Publish time: Tue Mar 14 18:00:18 CST 2017
The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot - Beijing Pre-Moot was successfully hosted by the Beijing Arbitration Commission / Beijing International Arbitration Center (the “BAC”) jointly with the Chinese Initiative on International Law, the ICC Young Arbitrators Forum and the China Young Arbitration Group on March 4 2017 at the BAC. As one of the hosts, the BAC has invited several renowned arbitrators to act as the jury members. 8 teams from 5 Chinese universities participated in the moot. After heated competition, the one-day moot came to a successful end. The Vis Vienna team from the Peking University Law School won the championship, the team from the Fudan University the 1st runner-up, and teams from the Peking University and theUniversity of International Business and Economics the 2nd runner-up.
The Pre-Moot focused on a dispute arising from a cross-border transaction of aircraft engine blades, covering a number of cutting-edge law issues that are perfect for debates such as international exchange rate, currency control, security for costs, defects of POA’s validity and the like. These law issues aim to assess the capability of interpreting contracts and understanding the arbitration system, and the contest questions are designed to fully test the debaters’ theory grounding of law, leaving sufficient space to the participants for creation and demonstration of their critical thinking skills.
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The Round-robin |
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During the intense and drastic round-robin and knockout, the participants have, based on the case of the Pre-Moot, delivered impressive presentation and debates, where they showed excellent English fluency, solid legal professional foundation and the spirit of team work. After each round, the arbitrators made impressive comments on their performances. The team members said that the exchanges with arbitrators and their peers from other colleges provided them with brand new research areas, and helped deepen their understanding of the core issues in dispute, raise their strain capacity, and review the fact and issues of the case from the view of arbitrators. What’s more important is the arbitrators’ comments, which unveiled the thoughts of lawyers and arbitrators in practice to the young talents, and laid a sound foundation for their future participation in the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.
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The Knockout |
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Mr.Fan Mingchao announced the semifinal participants |
Dr. Chen Fuyong announced the list of final participants |
The final was conducted between the Vis Vienna team from the Peking University Law School and the team of Fudan University. Mr. Tao Jingzhou, BAC arbitrator and Partner of Dechert LLP, acted as the chief arbitrator, who constituted the tribunal along with Mr. Lu Song, BAC arbitrator and Professor of China Foreign Affairs University, and Mr. Hu Ke, Partner of Jingtian&Gongcheng. The arbitrators raised both procedural and substantive questions to members of both teams. The questions were full of witty remarks, and were responded by excellent answers, from which the debaters have shown outstanding reaction capacity. After fierce competition, the final was won by the Vis Vienna team from the Peking University Law School. At last, the arbitrators made a sum-up of both teams’ performance, and presented views on the core issues of the case. Members of both teams said that from the Pre-Moot, they have strengthened the understanding of international commercial arbitration, and meanwhile deepened the thoughts on legal issues.
Final hearing tribunal composed of Mr. Tao Jingzhou, Prof. Lu Song and Mr. Hu Ke
The awarding and addressing session was moderated by Mr. Liu Yiqiang, Director of the Chinese Initiative on International Law. Judge Liu Jingdong, the Deputy Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Tribunal of Supreme Court of China, Mr. Tao Jingzhou who acted as the chief arbitrator during the final, and Mr. Lin Zhiwei, Secretary General of the BAC, delivered speeches respectively. Judge Liu congratulated the colleges and individuals on their successes in the Pre-Moot, and meanwhile enjoyedgreat satisfaction in seeing the excellent performance of the contestants. He hoped that the young colleagues could work even harder, so that the Chinese arbitration industry could go abroad and share the global market. Mr. Tao shared his experience of participating in the Vis Moot. The Vis Moot is originated from a love story, fascinating and exciting. He said the Vis Moot is having a rapid growth in China, and from this Pre-Moot, he felt no difference from any international arbitration moot. Also, he hoped that the BAC could continue to support this event, making the Pre-Moot bigger and stronger, and thereby providing powerful support to the Chinese arbitration industry that can match the leading status of China’s international trade.
To start his speech, Mr. Lin Zhiwei expressed warm congratulations on the success of this Pre-Moot. He pointed out that the BAC has always stuck to the idea of providing a good platform for exchange and studies to young talents, and this Pre-Moot is a sample of such efforts. In recent years, the BAC has made various efforts in this respect, such as holding essay contests and research projects, sponsoring legal journal and colloquia, and in this way kept strengthening the cooperation with the legal education circle, deepening the promotion of arbitration education, endeavoring to improve the cultivation and construction of legal talents specialized in arbitration. The BAC looks forward to stronger exchanges with various organizations and institutions, as well as more and better events, by which to make further contributions to the development of the Chinese arbitration industry.
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Judge Liu Jingdong |
Award presentation by Ms.Huang Yiwen to 2nd runner-up |
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Award presentation by Mr. Lin Zhiwei to champion and 1st runner-up |
Champion and 1st runner-up |
Group photo after Pre-Moot