VIS: Vogue, International, and Suave
Every year, from October to April, the Willem C. Vis International
Commercial Arbitration Moot, or Vis for short, occupies, perhaps
consumes, the lives of thousands of law students from around the world.
The growing ranks of "Vis mooties" have their own jargon, inside jokes,
T-shirts, an alumni association (
the Moot Alumni Association), a law journal (
The Vindobona Journal of International Commercial Law and Arbitration), and songs that should not be performed in public. Why VIS?
VIS is vogue (educationally-speaking)
Vis immerses law students in a thoroughly practical (albeit
hypothetical) private dispute in international trade. Along the way,
students learn alot about commercial law and arbitration from the
perspective of both academics and practitioners. In all these ways, Vis
is a great complement to law school education and excellent preparation
for any area of legal practice. Learn more about the
CISG, the commercial law used in Vis, and
arbitration.
VIS is international, like the UN but nicer
Vis brings together thousands of students from hundreds of schools
and dozens of countries around the world with a rich array of
perspectives on law and legal systems. Inside and out of the competition
rounds, Vis helps the legal community become globally connected.
VIS is suave or at least not entirely dorky
Vis emphasizes the three fundamental disciplines of a lawyer: the
intellectual ability to understand a body of law, the creative ability
to apply the law to concrete facts, and the persuasive ability to
advocate on behalf of a client through writing and speaking. Vis makes
better lawyers or at least lawyers who are a little less dorky.
Vogue, International and Suave, have you got VIS?
A year in the life of Vis
October. The Problem is released, our lives are forfeit.
Vis begins in early October with the release of
the Problem
(aka Procedural Order No. 1). The Problem is the basis for the
competition and sets out a detailed hypothetical dispute between two
international commercial parties. It includes the claim of damages from
the Claimant, the answer from the Respondent, evidence from the
parties, and relevant correspondence. Part of the challenge is to
understand both sides of the story and piece together the facts to
address the main issues described in the Problem. Time to start
researching and writing.
November. Clarification Questions released.
Teams may request clarifications of the Problem from the Vis organizers
up to a few weeks after the Problem is distributed. The questions the
Vis organizers think worth answering are collected and the answers given
to all teams in early November as the Clarification Questions (aka
Procedural Order No. 2). Ideally by the time the Clarifications are
released, you have finished much of the research, outlined the basic
arguments (for both sides!), and started writing Claimant's memo.
December. Claimant memo due, crunch time.
A team's entry into the moot is complete only with the submission of its
Claimant's memo in early December. This memo is where you explain how
Respondent has wronged Claimant and why Claimant (and its wonderful
counsel) deserves boatloads of money. You may not sleep for a night or
two or several but how beautiful it is when done. Enjoy a well-deserved
(and brief!) respite for the holidays then off to work on Respondent's
memo.
January. Respondent memo due, crunch time part deux.
Respondent's memo is due around late January. This is where you explain
how Claimant messed itself up and should stop bothering us all with its
spurious claims. Once the Respondent memo is done, the pace is more
relaxed for a while.
January-March. Practice, practice, practice.
These months are spent practicing with other schools in "pre-moots" and
refining arguments down to the core. Columbia VIS generally travels
around the northeast for pre-moots. Then we hit the European pre-moots
two to three weeks before the oral rounds in Vienna.
March-April. Going big time.
Months of effort culminate with the oral rounds held in Vienna and the sister moot in Hong Kong (the
Vis East).
There are four preliminary rounds. Generally, schools from common law
countries are matched against those from civil law countries.
Experienced schools also tend to face inexperienced ones. In Vienna, the
top 64 teams then advance to eliminations while the fortunate teams get
a few more days to enjoy the city. Regardless, all are then privileged
to call themselves VIS mooties.
Source:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/vismoot/vismoot.html
