Awards in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot explained

Various moot court awards are annually given in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna as well as the Willem C. Vis (East) Moot in Hong Kong. The top prizes in Vienna are the Pieter Sanders Award (Best Claimant Memorandum), the Werner Melis Award (Best Respondent Memorandum), the Martin Domke Award (Best Oralist), and the Eric Bergsten Award (Winner of the Moot; known as Frédéric Eisemann Award until 2017).^[1] Honourable Mentions are also awarded for the best oralists, memoranda, and teams that qualified for the knockout stages in the oral phase.

For the competition in Hong Kong, the top prizes are the David Hunter Award (Best Claimant Memorandum; known as Eric Bergsten Award until 2017), the Fali Nariman Award (Best Respondent Memorandum), the Neil Kaplan Award (Best Oralist), and the Eric Bergsten Award (Winner of the Moot; known as David Hunter Award until 2017). Like the Vienna competition, Honourable Mentions are awarded for the best oralists, memoranda, and teams that qualified for the knockout stages in the oral phase. Up until 2016, a separate winner for the Asian Division was also declared.

Between 2020 and 2022, due to COVID-19, both Vis moots were conducted online. In-person hearings resumed for both moots in 2023.

Vis Moot in Vienna

Awards for best memoranda in Vienna

Honourable Mentions are awarded for the best memoranda of the competition, and the Pieter Sanders Award is given for the Best Claimant Memorandum. During the first three Moots, the award was given for the Best Written Memoranda in support of the positions of Claimant and Respondent. Subsequently, the Werner Melis Award was introduced as a separate award for the Best Respondent Memorandum. Pieter Sanders was one of the founders of modern international commercial arbitration.^[2] He was one of the principal drafters of the New York Convention and the 1976 UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. Professor Sanders was also founder of the Law Faculty of Erasmus University Rotterdam and co-founder of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration as well as the Netherlands Arbitration Institute. The Werner Melis Award is named after an Honorary President of the International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Vienna)^[3] and Honorary Vice-president of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration.

Moot	Year	Winner of Best Claimant Memorandum	Winner of Best Respondent Memorandum
1st	1994	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	NA
2nd	1995	University of Basel	NA
3rd	1996	University of Cologne	NA
4th	1997	University of Copenhagen
5th	1998	University of Münster	University of Münster
6th	1999	University of Basel	University of Basel
7th	2000	University of Heidelberg	University of Heidelberg
8th	2001	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	University of Zagreb
9th	2002
10th	2003		University of Cologne
11th	2004		National University of Singapore
12th	2005	University of Copenhagen	Humboldt University of Berlin
13th	2006	Columbia University University of Munich	University of Munich
14th	2007	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
15th	2008	University of California, Berkeley	University of Heidelberg
16th	2009	University of Sydney	Stockholm University
17th	2010	University of New South Wales	University of New South Wales
18th	2011	Stockholm University	Queen's University University of St. Gallen
19th	2012	Harvard University University of Zurich	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
20th	2013	University of Belgrade University of Munich	National University of Singapore
21st	2014	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	University of Fribourg
22nd	2015	Humboldt University of Berlin	National Law University, Jodhpur
23rd	2016	University of Lucerne	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
24th	2017		University of Munich
25th	2018	University of Geneva	Humboldt University of Berlin
26th	2019	University of Sydney	University of Vienna
27th	2020	London School of Economics	University of Vienna
28th	2021	Aarhus University	University of Zurich
29th	2022	University of Heidelberg	Sofia University
30th	2023	Saarland University	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
31st	2024	University of Hamburg	University of Zurich

Award for the best individual oralist during the general rounds in Vienna

Honourable Mentions are awarded for the best oralists of the competition; the Martin Domke Award is awarded to the Best Individual Oralist. Both types of award are for the general rounds, and not elimination rounds. To be eligible for either award, a participant must have argued at least once for the Claimant and once for the Respondent. The Martin Domke Award was named after a former adjunct professor of law at New York University and a well-known scholar of international arbitration. Professor Domke was also vice president of the American Arbitration Association for 25 years and served as editor-in-chief of the then Arbitration Journal (now the Dispute Resolution Journal). He also was the author of Commercial Arbitration, published in 1965, and The Law and Practice of Commercial Arbitration, published in 1968.

Moot	Year	Winner of Best Oralist	2nd place	3rd place
1st	1994	Gregor Kirchhof, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	William Spiegelberger, Columbia University
2nd	1995	Chantal Niggemann, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	Neil Katz, Laval University	Dennis Willardt Zewillis, University of Copenhagen
3rd	1996	Kay-Jannes Wegner, University of Cologne	Friedrich Blase, University of Cologne	Kelly Longton, Deakin University Sebastian Semran, University of Cologne
4th	1997	Camilla Andersen, University of Copenhagen	Corinne Widmer, University of Basel
5th	1998	Biljana Dischlieva, University of Kiel	Julia Tilgen, Albert-Ludwigs University	John Bona, University of Queensland
6th	1999	Carmen Klein, University of Cologne	Martin Illmer, Johannes Gutenberg University
7th	2000	Jan Stemplewitz, University of Münster	Philipp Schulte, University of Münster	Sarah Catherine Holland, University of Queensland
8th	2001	Trevor Stockinger, Loyola Law School Los Angeles	Ivana Radic, University of Rijeka	Michael Karschau, University of Kiel
9th	2002	Marion Alice Jane Isobel, University of Queensland Robina Kaye, University of Montpellier		Mitja Kocmut, University of Ljubljana
10th	2003	Andrew Molnar, Deakin University Simun Soljo, University of New South Wales
11th	2004	Alexey Konovalov, Mari State University	Nawel Bailey, McGill University Dominic Müller, University of Heidelberg Metka Potocnik, University of Ljubljana
12th	2005	Charmaine Roberts, University of New South Wales Anna-Maria Tamminen, University of Vienna	Richard May, Victoria University of Wellington	Philip James Furniss, University of Ottawa Sarah Santiago, Syracuse University
13th	2006	Sonu Dhanju, Osgoode Hall Law School
14th	2007	Steven Wayne Hopkins, Southern Methodist University	Jason Stearns, Stetson University	David Quayat, University of Ottawa
15th	2008	Lennart Beckhaus, University of Münster	Michael Lederer, University of Vienna	Jerald Hess, American University Shen Narayanasamy, Monash University Tariq Rangwala, Osgoode Hall Law School
16th	2009	Oliver Jones, Lincoln's Inn	Sarah Wright, University of California	Alexander Fawke, Monash University
17th	2010	Antonia Füller, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	Gregory Dixon, Duke University Aashni Dalal, London School of Economics
18th	2011	Robin von Olshausen, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	Ethan Minshull, Tulane University
19th	2012	Laura Liefländer, University of Hamburg	Bastian Nill, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	William Crowe, Fordham University Newton Mak, Chinese University of Hong Kong Malgorzata Pohl, University of Silesia Angelina Sgier, University of Zurich Genavieve Shingle, Pace University
20th	2013	Kristen Holman, University of Ottawa	Lauren Watts, University of Washington	Abby Hilaire, University of Washington Brie Coyle, University of Washington
21st	2014	Samuel Song, University of San Diego	Paulo Sergio De Albuquerque Coelho Filho, Universidade de São Paulo
22nd	2015	Kelvin Chong Yue Hua, National University of Singapore Laura Fahrner, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
23rd	2016	Karmijn Krooshof, University of Amsterdam Rebecca Lennard, University of Notre Dame Australia Dimitrios Peteves University of Florida
24th	2017	Emily Domingo, Monash University Natalie Kolos, University of Ottawa Ashlyn Robinson, University of Florida
25th	2018	Timothy Morgan, University of Sydney	Evanthia Kasiora, London School of Economics Laura Korn, University of Freiburg Lilian Winter, University of Freiburg
26th	2019	Terry Frederic, Brooklyn Law School	David Vucinic, University of Belgrade	Reto Tettamanti, University of St Gallen Yves Tjon-A-Meeuw, University of Zurich
27th (online)	2020		Eleanor Dennis, McGill University	Gabriel Libório, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
28th (online)	2021	Francis Lake, BPP Law School		Efat Elsherif, McGill University
29th (online)	2022	Frederik Kold Galsgaard, Aarhus University	Christian Grunau, University of Münster	Océane Kessler, University of Basel
30th	2023	Killian Hayes Dockrell, University of Edinburgh	Elisa Alexandra Henke, Humboldt University of Berlin	Laurenz Faber, University of Vienna
31st	2024	Yijun Cui, University of Sydney	Mathias Abildgaard Ohlsen, Aarhus University	Thomas Martyn, University of SydneySophia Danzer, University of Vienna

Award for winner of the moot in Vienna

Previously the Frédéric Eisemann Award, the Eric Bergsten Award is awarded to the prevailing team in the championship round. The award is named after the founder of the moot. As the Vis has grown in the number of participating teams, the Vis has expanded from having originally only four teams advance into the elimination or knockout rounds to its current state where the top 64 of over 300 teams advance.^[4] From 1994 to 1996, the top four teams advanced;^[5] from 1997 to 1999, the top eight teams advanced;^[6] from 2000 to 2002, the top 16 teams advanced;^[7] and from 2003 to 2007, the top 32 teams advanced.^[8] Each team that advances to the elimination rounds receives an award for Honorable Mention for Best Team Orals.

Moot	Year	Number of teams	Winner of the moot	Runner-up	3rd place	3rd place	QF
1st	1994[9]	11
2nd	1995
3rd	1996
4th	1997
5th	1998			University of Queensland
6th	1999		Deakin University
7th	2000	80	University of Queensland
8th	2001			University of Cologne
9th	2002[10]	108		University of Queensland
10th	2003	128
11th	2004[11]	136
12th	2005[12]	150
13th	2006[13]	150		Stetson University	Columbia University
14th	2007	178	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg				Harvard University
15th	2008				University of Vienna
16th	2009	234
17th	2010	255			Osgoode Hall Law School
18th	2011	262	University of Ottawa				University of Belgrade
19th	2012	282			Harvard University		Bucerius Law School
20th	2013	290		Monash University			Columbia University * Bucerius Law School
21st	2014	290	Deakin University				University of Belgrade
22nd	2015	298	University of Ottawa
23rd	2016	333		Singapore Management University			National University of Singapore * University of Georgia
24th	2017	367	University of Ottawa		Columbia University	University of Montevideo
25th	2018	362		University of Cambridge	National Law School of India University		Australian Catholic University * Columbia University * University of Dusseldorf * University of Passau
26th	2019	379		University of Ottawa			University of Sydney
27th[14]	2020 (online)	248	West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	University of Hamburg	University of Queensland	Chinese University of Hong Kong * Moscow State Institute of International Relations
28th	2021 (online)	387	Bucerius Law School	Singapore Management University		University of Ottawa	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg * London School of Economics * National Law University Odisha * University of Vienna
29th	2022 (online)	367		University of Hamburg			Singapore Management University * University of Vienna
30th	2023	387	University of Vienna	University of Belgrade	Singapore Management University	University of Hamburg	Stetson University * University of Geneva * University of Queensland * University of Mainz
31st	2024	373	Bucerius Law School	University of Vienna	University of Tübingen	University of Pristina	National Law University, Jodhpur * Mackenzie Presbyterian University * WU Vienna * Charles University Prague

Vis Moot (East) in Hong Kong

Awards for best memoranda in Hong Kong

Honourable Mentions are also awarded for the best memoranda of the competition; the top memoranda receive separate prizes. Between 2004 and 2016, the Eric Bergsten Award was given for the Best Claimant's Memorandum in the Vis Moot (East) held in Hong Kong. It was renamed the David Hunter Award from 2017 onward. The Fali Nariman Award is given for the Best Respondent's Memorandum.

Moot	Year	Winner of Best Claimant Memorandum	Winner of Best Respondent Memorandum
1st	2004	University of Munich	Loyola University Chicago
2nd	2005	University of Houston Law Center	University of Munich
3rd	2006	University of Munich	University of Munich
4th	2007	Fordham University School of Law	University of Victoria, British Columbia
5th	2008	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	Hofstra University School of Law
6th	2009	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	Harvard University University of Mainz
7th	2010	Osgoode Hall Law School	Stetson University
8th	2011	Stetson University	University of Basel
9th	2012	Bond University	Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg
10th	2013	University of Basel	Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg
11th	2014	Harvard University	NALSAR University of Law
12th	2015	University of Munich	Leibniz University Hannover
13th	2016	University of Munich	University of Munich
14th	2017	Stanford Law School	University of Helsinki
15th	2018	University of Mannheim	University of Mainz
16th	2019	Chinese University of Hong Kong	Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
17th/1st VVE	2020	University of Heidelberg	City University of Hong Kong
18th/2nd VVE	2021	University of Bucharest	Gujarat National Law University
19th/3rd VVE	2022	University of Munich	University of Heidelberg
20th	2023	Humboldt University of Berlin	University of Mannheim
21st	2024	University of Zurich	University of Zurich

Award for the best individual oralist during the general rounds in Hong Kong

Honourable Mentions are awarded for the best oralists of the competition; the Neil Kaplan Award is given for the Best Oralist during the General Rounds in the Vis Moot (East) held in Hong Kong.^[15]

Moot	Year	Winner of Best Oralist
1st	2004	Ipsita Dutta, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences
2nd	2005	Joanne Berenger, Deakin University
3rd	2006	Lily Lu, Loyola Law School
4th	2007	Daniel J. Weiner, Fordham University School of Law
5th	2008	Gautam Sood, Loyola Law School
6th	2009	Frances Ma, Loyola Law School
7th	2010	Susan Mathenge, Georgetown University Law Center
8th	2011	David Teslicko, American University Washington College of Law
9th	2012	Julian Egelhof, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
10th	2013	Jakob Steiner, University of Basel
11th	2014	Kaixu Li, China-EU School of Law
12th	2015	Lachlan Hopwood, Bond University
13th	2016	Naomi Ahsan, American University Washington College of Law
14th	2017	Desmond Chong, Harvard University
15th	2018	Uma Sharma, National University of Singapore
16th	2019	Daniel Fong, National University of Singapore
17th/1st VVE	2020 (online)	Surya Jayakumar, Singapore Management University
18th/2nd VVE	2021 (online)	Gregory Magarian, University of Cincinnati Wang Fengquan, Peking University Yasmin Drill, University of Münster
19th/3rd VVE	2022	Ida Pawlack, University of Münster
20th	2023	Wei Xiaoqiao, Peking University School of Transnational Law
21st	2024	Peking University

Award for winner of the moot in Hong Kong

The David Hunter Award was awarded to the team prevailing in the oral rounds in Hong Kong between 2004 and 2016. From 2017 onward, it was renamed the Eric Bergsten Award. Honourable Mentions are also awarded to teams that reach the knockout stages. Up until 2016, a separate winner for the Asian Division was also declared; a selection of the highest-ranking Asian teams that failed to qualify for the knockout stages would compete within a pool in a round-robin format.

Moot	Year	Number of teams	Winner of the moot	Runner-up	3rd place	3rd place	QF
1st	2004	14
2nd	2005	18
3rd	2006	32		Deakin University	Loyola University Chicago
4th	2007	46		Monash University
5th	2008	51
6th	2009	64	Loyola Law School Los Angeles
7th	2010	75		Deakin University	University of Houston
8th	2011	87			Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	University of Hong Kong	Bucerius Law School
9th	2012	90	City University of Hong Kong	University of Houston	La Trobe University		Harvard University
10th	2013	93			Bond University
11th	2014	99	Loyola University Chicago
12th	2015	107	Singapore Management University			West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences
13th	2016	133	Chinese University of Hong Kong	Singapore Management University
14th	2017	128	West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences	Nalsar University of Law	Singapore Management University	University of Bucharest
15th	2018	133		Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg	Singapore Management University
16th	2019	136	Universiteit van Amsterdam
17th/1st VVE	2020 (online)[16]	70	Chinese University of Hong Kong		Singapore Management University		NALSAR University of Law * National Law School of India University * National Law University, Jodhpur * Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo
18th/2nd VVE	2021 (online)	150	Fordham University		Humboldt University of Berlin		National Law School of India University * Yonsei University * Charles University * Universitas Katolik Parahyangan
19th/3rd VVE	2022 (online)	140	Singapore Management University	Monash University	University of Münster	National University of Singapore	Bucerius Law School * Humboldt University of Berlin * Tsinghua University * University of Tübingen
20th	2023[17]	111	Royal Institute of Colombo	National Law School of India University	Universitas Katolik Parahyangan		NALSAR University of Law * National Law University, Delhi * Singapore Management University * University of Münster
21th	2024[18]	144	National Law University, Jodhpur	Charles University		National Law University, Delhi	NALSAR University of Law * National Law School of India University * Singapore Management University * Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

• Note: due to an alleged glitch in the scoring, teams that did not advance to Round of 32 were permitted to advance directly to the semi-final round without going through the Round of 32, Round of 16, and quarterfinal.

External links

• Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Vienna (official website)
• Willem C. Vis (East) Moot, Hong Kong (official website)
• Moot Alumni Association (MAA), the Alumni Association of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot

Notes and References

1. http://www.cisg.law.pace.edu/cisg/moot/rules17.pdf Rules of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
2. See B.E. Shipman, "Professor Pieter Sanders", International Law FORUM du droit international (2000), 41-44
3. Web site: Vienna International Arbitral Centre . 2012-02-09 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120111062013/http://www.internationales-schiedsgericht.at/en.html . 2012-01-11 .
4. Web site: Previous Moots - Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. vismoot.pace.edu. 2016-03-24.
5. Web site: Previous Moots - Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. vismoot.pace.edu. 2016-03-24.
6. Web site: Previous Moots - Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. vismoot.pace.edu. 2016-03-24.
7. Web site: Previous Moots - Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. vismoot.pace.edu. 2016-03-24.
8. Web site: Previous Moots - Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. vismoot.pace.edu. 2016-03-24.
9. Web site: The Complete (but Unofficial) Guide to the Willem C Vis Commercial Arbitration Moot: Jörg Risse: Beck/Hart . www.bloomsburyprofessional.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20201022103743/https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/the-complete-but-unofficial-guide-to-the-willem-c-vis-commercial-arbitration-moot-9781509920365/ . 2020-10-22.
10. Web site: News .
11. News: Osgoode underdogs win 'Olympic Games' of law mooting - The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail. 19 April 2004. Makin. Kirk.
12. Web site: Stetson scores victory in Vienna .
13. News: Opinion | Moot court diplomacy . The New York Times . 14 April 2006 . Shulman . Mark R. .
14. https://vismoot.pace.edu/Messages#message8bb1cec1-b5e0-4423-9471-ab8c01048d59
15. Web site: Past Moots | Vis East Moot .
16. Web site: First virtual Vis East reaches an end .
17. https://cisgmoot.org/20th-vis-east-moot/
18. https://cisgmoot.org/21th-vis-east-moot/