The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is the world’s leading law school competition fostering the study of international commercial law and international commercial arbitration. The competition is named after Willem C. Vis, Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) at the time of promulgation of the Vienna Convention, Professor at Pace University School of Law and the parent of the Moot Court idea. The Moot is organized by the Association for the Organization and Promotion of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. The Director is Eric E. Bergsten, Professor Emeritus of Pace University School of Law and a former Secretary of the UNCITRAL. The Vis Moot is sponsored by numerous institutions worldwide, such as UNCITRAL, International Chamber of Commerce, American Arbitration Association, The London Court of International Arbitration, Swiss Arbitration Association and the like. Since 2019, the Russian Arbitration Center has also been a sponsor of the Vis Moot.
Willem C. Vis Moot has become one of the world’s biggest law competitions. 378 universities took part in the 26th Vis Moot in 2019.
The Moot involves a dispute arising out of a contract of sale between two countries that are party to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The first one is to submit written memoranda from the Claimant and Respondent, then present their positions in oral rounds. Global rounds are held in March-April in Vienna, Austria.
Each year, Vismoot preliminary rounds are traditionally organized all over the world, during which teams can prepare for participation in global rounds.
It is been over 10 years since Moscow Pre-Moot was firstly conducted - under the auspices of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The founders of Pre-Moot Vis Moscow are Olesya Petrol and Alexander Yagelnitsky.
Since 2019, Russian Arbitration Center has organized Willem C. Vis Moscow Pre-Moot.
In addition, the partner of the preliminary rounds is Young IMA - new professional platform for young specialists in arbitration and ADR based on the Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration.
For more detailed information about Willem C. Vis Moscow Pre-Moot: vismoot.ru.