1st Edinburgh International Willem Vis Pre-Moot 2011/12
Over the weekend of 3rd/4th March Edinburgh Law School held a practice competition in advance of the Willem Vis Moot, which takes place in Vienna in April. The Vis Pre-Moot was arranged in order to support the Scottish teams in their preparations for Vienna. Students from Edinburgh University, Aberdeen University and Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) came together to plead their case against each other in front of a panel of moot arbitrators, consisting of practising arbitrators, advocates, solicitors, trainees and academics.
The practice competition was a great success, allowing all participants including to gain valuable experience and insightful feedback in advance of the Vis Moot in April, where they will be competing against around 300 international teams from all over the world.
Edinburgh Law School’s thanks go to the Pre-Moot Arbitrators of 3rd / 4th March 2012, who kindly gave their weekend to further the students’ development and mooting practice (in order of surname):
- David Bartos (Advocate, Terra Firma Chambers)
- Maximilian Bülau (Hengeler Mueller)
- Neil Dowers (Edinburgh Vis Moot Team Coach)
- Hew R Dundas (International Arbitrator & Mediator/ Honorary Vice President, Scottish Arbitration Centre)
- David Earnest (Associate, Hogan Lovells)
- Ruaridh Goodfield (Trainee Solicitor, DLA Piper Scotland)
- Dr. James Harrison (Lecturer in International Law, University of Edinburgh)
- Kathryn Hunt (Morton Fraser LLP)
- Dr. Christopher Kee (Senior Lecturer, University of Aberdeen)
- Dr. Simone Lamont-Black (Lecturer in International Trade Law, University of Edinburgh)
- Donny Mackinnon (Chartered Arbitrator)
- Brandon Malone (Partner, McClure Naismith/ Chairman, Scottish Arbitration Centre)
- Neil Morrison (MBM Commercial LLP)
- Kathleen Tutton (Counsel, Bank of America Merrill Lynch)
- Michael Weatherston (Trainee Solicitor, DLA Piper Scotland).
The School is also particularly grateful to Scottish Arbitration Centre for sponsoring its event and to Hogan Lovells for sponsoring the Edinburgh team.
The pre-moot was another event in the field of (international) dispute resolution, following two guest lectures earlier in the academic year on the topic, one on the new 2012 ICC Arbitration Rules by Michael Davison (Partner, Hogan Lovells) and the next by Hew Dundas (International Arbitrator & Mediator/ Honorary Vice President, Scottish Arbitration Centre) on alternative dispute resolution.
Feedback on Pre-Moot 2011/12:
Kathy Scott-Dowell (VU Wellington)
I thoroughly enjoyed the premoot that was organised. It was incredibly useful and also a great chance to get to know some of the other mooters.
From a mooting perspective, I found the judges to be very willing to discuss feedback with us and the comments made were really constructive. I particularly liked being able to keep our feedback sheets because it gave my team mate and I something to refer back to when we were incorporating the comments we’d had. The judges were all very engaged with the moot and asked us a real variety of questions.
From a social perspective, I absolutely loved my time in Edinburgh. The moot was organised by such friendly and welcoming people. We became really great friends with the team and their coach and we have all stayed in touch now that the moot has ended. The social function after the mooting has finished was very well organised and a lovely way to end our time there. I am so keen to come back to Edinburgh as soon as I can, it’s a city (and a university) that looks like it has a lot to offer. My only regret is that we didn’t have more time there!
Thanks so much to Neil and his team for facilitating this opportunity for us. It was definitely one of the highlights of our premooting schedule and I really hope the New Zealand team can be involved again in the future.