University of Mannheim students shine at international Vis Moot competition

Four male and one female student from the University of Mannheim compete against more than 350 other teams in Hong Kong and Vienna.

For ten years now, the University of Mannheim has been participating with selected students in the largest student competition in international commercial law and arbitration, the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, or Vis Moot for short. The event is a good opportunity for the students to gain insights into exciting international procedures and to gain negotiation experience during their studies. Around 2000 students, renowned arbitration practitioners and academics will meet this year in Vienna and Hong Kong.

The competition consists of a written and an oral phase. First, the Mannheim team – consisting of five law students – worked for about four months on a plaintiff’s and a defendant’s brief. In the oral phase, the students then represented the interests of their client before fictitious arbitral tribunals. During this oral phase, the Mannheim team prepared intensively for the pleadings in the final rounds in Hong Kong and Vienna at so-called “pre-moots” in Amsterdam, Riga, Prague and Düsseldorf.

In the oral part of the competition in Hong Kong, the Mannheim students reached the semifinals after four preliminary rounds and subsequent knockout rounds. In the written part of the competition, the plaintiff’s brief from the Mannheim team was awarded an Honorable Mention. The defendant’s brief was classified as the best out of 111 briefs!

The final is taking place in Vienna these days. The students from the Mannheim Vis Moot Team want to build on the previous successes there.