12th International Commercial Arbitration Competition: The Willem C. Vis (East) Commercial Arbitration Moot
On March 15-22, the 12 th International Commercial Arbitration Competition: The Willem C. Vis (East) Commercial Arbitration Moot took place in Hong Kong – in which, for the first time ever, a team from HSE’s Faculty of Law took part.
The competition in Hong Kong is similar to that held under the same name in Vienna, which has been held by Vienna University under the auspices of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) since 1994, and which is one of the best known, most prestigious international student competitions – regularly drawing hundreds of teams from leading law universities around the world. This year, 105 teams competed in the Hong Kong competition. HSE’s team met teams from China, France, India and the United States.
HSE’s Faculty of Law fielded a team comprising:
- Alexandra Skiba (Undergraduate programme, 3rd year),
- Daniil Vlasenko (Undergraduate programme, 3rd year),
- Elena Zaltzer (Specialist programme, 5th year),
- Polina Lomakina (Postgraduate programme, 3rd year).
The oral rounds that took place in Hong Kong are traditionally preceded by six months of hard work on problems set by the competition organizers, writing memoranda from the plaintiff and defendant, drafting speeches and preparing presentations. Before the start of the competition, the team took part in preliminary rounds in Helsinki and Hong Kong.
The Faculty of Law team’s trainer each year is Associate Professor Mikhail Galperin, and Elena Mazetova, who graduated from the Faculty and took part in last year’s competition. Members of the team HSE fielded the previous year Elza Dauletshina and Tatyana Murzabaeva are also involved in training competition entrants. The students receive financial support from the St Petersburg International Legal Forum, law firm Nektorov, Saveliev, and Partners, and the Faculty of Law at HSE.
The team is truly grateful for all this support!
A new round of selection for participation in The Willem C. Vis (East) Commercial Arbitration Moot will take place early in the 2015/2016 academic year.