Eighth Annual
WILLEM C. VIS
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL
ARBITRATION MOOT
Vienna, Austria
6-12 April 2001
THE RULES
Organized by:
Institute of International
Commercial Law
Pace University School of Law
78 North Broadway
White Plains, NY 10603
USA
INTRODUCTION
I. The Willem C. Vis
International Commercial Arbitration Moot
The
Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is an annual
competition of teams representing law schools throughout the world (the
"Arbitral Moot"). In the Seventh Annual Moot in 1999-2000
seventy-nine law school teams from 28 countries on 5 continents participated.
More than 400 students were members of the teams. The Moot was judged by 200
lawyers and professors from around the world.
Goals.
The Arbitral Moot is intended to stimulate the study of international
commercial law, especially the legal texts prepared by UNCITRAL, and the use of
international commercial arbitration to resolve international commercial
disputes. The international nature of the Arbitral Moot is intended to lead
participants to interpret the texts of international commercial law in the
light of different legal systems and to develop an expertise in advocating a
position before an arbitral panel composed of arbitrators from different legal
systems. An active social program at the time of the oral hearings in Vienna is
organized by the Moot Alumni Association with the aim of promoting friendships
that can last long after the Moot itself is over.
The
Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is designed to be an
educational program with many facets in the form of a competition. It is not
intended to be a competition with incidental educational benefits.
II. Organization of the
Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
Organizer,
Co-sponsors, Supporters. The Arbitral Moot is organized by the Institute of
International Commercial Law at Pace University School of Law. It is
co-sponsored by the American Arbitration Association, Chartered Institute of
Arbitrators, International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of
Commerce, International Arbitral Centre at the Austrian Federal Economic
Chamber, London Court of International Arbitration, Faculty of Law of the
University of Vienna and the United Nations Commission on International Trade
Law (UNCITRAL). It also receives support from Oceana Publishing Inc., the
Vienna Convention Bureau and the City of Vienna.
The
Moot consists of the preparation of a memorandum for claimant, a memorandum for
respondent and oral hearings.
Venue.
The oral hearings will be held in Vienna, Austria, at the Faculty of Law
(Juridicum) of the University of Vienna. The general rounds will take place on
Saturday through Tuesday, 7 to 10 April 2001. The elimination rounds will take
place on Wednesday and Thursday, 11 – 12 April 2001, culminating with the final
round on Thursday, 12 April 2001.
The
first events during the oral hearings are a welcoming party for student
participants on Thursday evening, 5 April, and the official opening event with
reception on Friday evening, 6 April 2001.
Language.
The Arbitral Moot will be conducted in English.
RULES
I. Registration
Registration
is accomplished by submission of the registration form and is confirmed by
payment of the registration fee. Although registration will be accepted until 4
December 2000, the date the memorandum for claimant is due (see Deadlines and
place for submission of memoranda, below), registration prior to distribution
of the Problem on 6 October 2000 is desirable.
The registration fee is US $500. Each year an alternative registration fee in Euro will be established for the following year’s Moot based on the then current exchange rate. The Euro rate once established will remain constant throughout the Moot in question. The alternative registration fee for the Eighth Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is Euro 525.
The registration fee must be
paid by 4 December 2000 in order to compete in the Moot, unless the Director of
the Moot has specifically agreed to a later date. Payment of the registration
fee of US$500 must be made by check payable
to Pace University drawn on a US branch of a bank. Payment of the registration
fee of Euro 525 must be made by transfer to Bank Austria, routing code
20151, account of “Eric Bergsten Vis Moot”, account number 790 080 014. The
transfer must NOT be payable to Pace University or it will be refused by Bank
Austria. The transfer must also indicate the name of your university as the
transferor.
Checks in US dollars must be sent to Professor Eric E.
Bergsten, Schimmelgasse 16/14, A-1030 Vienna, Austria: Tel & Fax +43 1
713-5408. The registration fee is paid only if Professor Bergsten has received
the check or the payment has been credited to the above-mentioned account.
The
registration fee includes an invitation to an opening reception for all team
members, coaches and accompanying persons on Friday, 6 April 2001. It also
includes an invitation to the awards banquet on Thursday, 12 April 2001,
following the Final Round of hearings for team members who register in Vienna,
to a maximum of four team members, and for an accompanying team coach.
Additional team members and accompanying persons are also invited, but will be
asked to pay for the actual cost of the meal.
The
registration form includes space for two names and addresses. Results of the
current Moot will be sent to the person listed at the top of the form.
Invitations to participate in subsequent Moots will also be sent to that
person. The Problem, clarifications, claimant’s memorandum to which a
defendant’s memorandum must be prepared and information relevant to housing in Vienna
and other organizational aspects of the Moot will be sent to the person listed
at the bottom of the form. It is the responsibility of the designated person to
distribute all relevant material to the team. The person listed at the bottom
of the form must give an e-mail address to which communications can be sent.
Communications
between the team and the Institute through anyone other than the designated
person are at the risk of the team.
The
registration of a team may be withdrawn at any time prior to the date for the
submission of the claimant’s memorandum, i.e., 4 December 2000, and the
registration fee will be refunded in full.
A
team that submits its memorandum for claimant will be paired with two other
teams for the exchange of memoranda, as described in Part IV below, and will be
scheduled to meet those two teams in the first two oral arguments, as described
in Part V below. Withdrawal after submission of the memorandum for claimant
would affect the Moot for the two teams paired for the exchange of memoranda
and the first two oral arguments. Therefore, teams that have submitted the
memorandum for claimant are expected to participate in the entire Moot,
including the oral arguments, and no refund of the registration fee will be
made.
II. The Problem
Subject
Matter. The Problem in the Eighth (2000-2001) Arbitral Moot involves a
controversy arising out of a international sale of goods subject to the United
Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
Dispute Settlement. The controversy is before an arbitral tribunal pursuant to International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Rules of Arbitration. Pursuant to Article 14 of the said Arbitration Rules, the parties have agreed that the arbitration will be held in Vindobona, Danubia. Danubia has enacted the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (Model Law). Danubia, Equatoriana and Mediterraneo, the three states involved, are party to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention).
The
Competition. By the time the Eighth Arbitral Moot begins, the claimant has
filed its request for arbitration, the respondent has filed its statement of
defense and the arbitral tribunal has been appointed. The Problem will consist of
the statements of claim and defense with their exhibits, the Terms of Reference
under Article 18 of the ICC Rules of Arbitration, plus any orders of the
arbitral tribunal issued prior to the date on which the Problem is distributed.
The Arbitral Moot involves writing memoranda and oral argument in support of
the positions of the claimant and respondent.
Distribution.
The Problem will be distributed by the Institute on Friday, 6 October 2000, by
posting on the Institute’s Web site. The URL for the Moot is
http://www.cisg.law.pace.edu/vis.html. The Problem will be sent by e-mail to
any participating team that does not have access to the World Wide Web and by
mail or courier service to any team that cannot receive it over the Internet.
Facts.
The facts in the dispute that is the subject matter of the Moot are given in
the Problem. No additional facts may be introduced into the Moot unless they
are a logical and necessary extension of the given facts. By way of example,
the subject matter of the dispute in the Fourth Moot was men’s suits. It was
legitimate to assume that the suits were made of cloth. It was not legitimate
to assume that they were, or should have been, made of pure wool. If a team
intended to base an argument on the material out of which the suits were made,
the team should have requested a clarification of the Problem. Statements of
fact alleged by a team that are not a logical and necessary extension of the
given facts are not true. Therefore, basing an argument on any such alleged
facts will be considered to be in breach of the rules of the Moot and to be
professionally unethical. Arbitrators will enforce this rule strictly in both
the memorandum and oral arguments and will evaluate the team’s efforts
accordingly.
Clarifications.
Requests for clarification of the Problem may be sent to the Institute prior to
27 October 2000. Requests for clarification should be limited to matters that
would appear to have legal significance in the context of the Problem. A
request for clarification must include a short explanation of the expected
significance of the clarification. Any request that does not contain such an
explanation will be ignored.
Clarifications
issued by the Institute in the form of a Procedural Order from the arbitral
tribunal will be distributed to all teams by 3 November 2000, using the same
methods of distribution as were used for the Problem. Teams are responsible for
making sure that they have received the clarifications. Clarifications issued
by the Institute become part of the Problem.
III. Teams
Composition.
Each participating law school may enter one team. A team is composed of two or
more students registered at the school for the study of law. Students may be
registered either for the first degree in law or for an advanced degree and
need not be from the country in which the law school is located. There is no
maximum limit on the number of students who may be members of the team. No
student who has been either admitted or licensed to practice law is eligible to
participate. Teams may include former participants. However, students who have
participated in an argument in an elimination round (Round of 16 or later) in a
previous Moot may not participate in the oral arguments. Eligibility to
participate in the Moot is determined as of 4 December 2000.
The
list of team members must be submitted to the Institute by e-mail as a separate
computer file at the time the memorandum for claimant is submitted.
Certificates of participation for participating team members will be prepared
from the lists submitted to the Institute. Therefore, names should be in the
form in which they should appear on the certificates. Any changes in the
composition of the team must be specifically communicated to Professor
Bergsten.
Participation.
All members of the team may participate in preparation of the memoranda for
claimant and respondent.
In
each of the oral hearings two members of the team will present the argument.
Other members of the team may not aid them during the argument in any way.
Different members of the team may participate in the different hearings.
Therefore, between two and eight members may participate in the oral hearings.
However, to be eligible for the Martin Domke Award for best individual oralist,
a participant must have argued at least once for the claimant and once for the
respondent. The average score per argument will be calculated and the award
will be determined on that basis.
IV. Written Memoranda
Memoranda.
Each team must submit a memorandum in support of the claimant's position by 4
December 2000. Each claimant’s memorandum will be sent to one of the other
teams to arrive by 15 December 2000. Each team will prepare a memorandum in
support of the respondent's position in response to the memorandum in support
of the claimant's position that was sent to it. The Institute will determine to
which team a memorandum in support of the claimant's position will be sent.
The
memorandum for respondent must be responsive to the arguments made in the
memorandum for claimant. Nevertheless, the memorandum for claimant to which a
memorandum for respondent is to be prepared may not have made all of the
arguments that the team preparing the memorandum for respondent believes should
have been made. The team preparing the memorandum for respondent may deal with
those issues. Such additional arguments (arguments in response to arguments not
made by your opponent) would not normally be made in a real arbitration.
However, they may be appropriate in the Arbitral Moot. If such arguments are
made, they must be identified in an appropriate manner so that the jury judging
the memoranda and the arbitrators hearing the oral arguments will be able to
consider them separately.
Form,
length and other elements of style. Citations should preferably be placed in
the body of the text. In any case, they should not be placed in endnotes.
Citations to authorities should be in a form that is intelligible to all who
will read the memorandum. That includes the members of the other teams, the
arbitrators in the oral hearings and the members of the jury who will judge the
written phase of the Arbitral Moot. Most of the readers of the memorandum will
be from other countries. Account should be taken that the style of citation of
judicial decisions or articles in legal journals that is common in one country
may not be intelligible to participants in the Moot from other countries.
Similarly, care should be taken in the use of legal doctrines and terminology
(including Latin maxims) common in some legal systems that are not found in the
CISG, Model Law, New York Convention or ICC Arbitration Rules and that may not
be known to teams or arbitrators from other legal systems.
Memoranda
may be no longer than thirty (30) 8½ x 11 inch or A4 typed pages, including any
statement of facts, argument or discussion, and footnotes. Cover pages, tables
of contents, indices, lists of authorities or other material that does not
consist of facts, argument or discussion may be in addition.
No
type style smaller than 10 point may be used. The use of 12 point proportional
type is encouraged. Reproduction of all copies must be full sized and clear.
Memoranda
may be reproduced on both sides of the paper.
Memoranda
must be bound or stapled securely so that the binding or stapling will hold
throughout the Moot. Memoranda that are held together by rubber bands, light
weight staples, paper clips or other insecure means are not properly submitted
and will not be considered for award.
The
name of the team and whether the memorandum is for the claimant or for the
respondent must appear prominently on the outside cover page so that it can
easily be read without opening the memorandum.
Memorandum
Revision. A memorandum may not be revised once it has been submitted to the
Institute, including for missing pages, for typographical or grammatical errors
or for problems caused by faulty computer software. Revised or additional pages
submitted to the Institute will be ignored. Sufficient time should be left
prior to submission to verify the text to be submitted.
Scoring
of Memoranda. A jury selected by the Institute will score the memoranda on the
basis of the quality of the analysis, persuasiveness of argument, thoroughness
of research and the clarity of the writing. The jury will take into account
whether arguments are based on facts not found in the Problem or clarifications
and that are not logical and necessary extensions of the given facts. When
judging the memorandum for respondent, account will be taken whether it is
responsive to the arguments raised by the claimant.
The
memoranda for claimant and for respondent will each be judged in two rounds. In
the first round the members of the jury will each receive three or four
memoranda. They will be asked to rank them in order of merit. If there is a
sufficient number of jury members available, each memorandum will be submitted
to three different jury members. On the basis of the results from the first
round of judging, fifteen memoranda will be selected for submission to a
separate jury of five members for determination of the winners of the awards
for best memorandum in each category.
Submission
of Memoranda. Each team is to submit in total twenty-five (25) copies of the
memorandum for claimant and the memorandum for respondent. The memoranda must
also be submitted as an attachment to an e-mail message at the time the hard
copies are sent. The memorandum must be submitted as a single computer file so
that the memorandum could be printed complete with cover page. In addition, at
the same time the memorandum for claimant is sent, a separate file must be sent
by e-mail with the names of the members of the team.
Deadlines
and Place for Submission of Memoranda. The submission of twenty-five (25)
copies of the memorandum for claimant and for respondent as well as the computer
files should be sent to:
Professor
Eric E. Bergsten
International
Commercial Arbitration Moot
Schimmelgasse
16/14
A-1030
Vienna, Austria
Tel.
& fax +43 1 713-5408
E-mail:
eric.bergsten@chello.at or ebergsten@law.pace.edu.
All
deadlines are measured by the date the paper copies of the memorandum are due
in Vienna. The dates on which memoranda are due in Vienna are as follows:
Memorandum for claimant 5 copies, 4 December 2000
20 copies, 5 January 2001
Memorandum for respondent 5 copies 12 February 2001
20 copies, 19 February 2001
If
the memorandum for claimant is received in Vienna after 8 December 2000, or the
memorandum for respondent is received after 16 February 2001, it will not be
considered for award in that category. The memorandum for claimant must be
received by 8 December 2000, in order for the team to continue to participate
in the Moot. Delays in delivery of the memorandum to Vienna by the post or
courier service are at the risk of the team. It should be pointed out that
packages of memoranda arriving from outside the European Union that weigh 2
kilograms or more must be accompanied by a customs declaration or they will be
delayed in customs and customs duty may be charged.
Special
arrangements for submission of the memorandum for claimant will be made for
those teams from the Southern Hemisphere that have examinations in the period
immediately prior to the date on which the memorandum for claimant is due. No
other extensions of the due date or special arrangements will be made.
If
the sending post office or courier service requires that the package containing
the memoranda be given a value for customs purposes, that valuation should be its
commercial value, i.e., US$10 or less, and not the cost of preparing the
memoranda. A declared valuation of 250 Austrian schillings or more subjects the
package to customs duties in Austria, for which the sending team will be held
responsible.
The
designated contact person for each team will be sent the memorandum for
claimant of another team, to which a memorandum for respondent must be
prepared, in time for the memorandum for claimant to be received between 11 and
15 December 2000. If the contact person will not be available at the address
given during that period, a substitute person or address must be notified to
the Institute prior to 1 December 2000.
By
23 February 2001, the designated contact person will be sent the memorandum for
respondent prepared in reply to its memorandum for claimant as well as the
memoranda of the other teams against which it will argue in its third and
fourth oral hearings.
Copyright.
Memoranda once submitted shall be the property of the Institute and may be
copyrighted by the Institute.
V. Oral Hearings
Venue.
The oral hearings will be held at the Faculty of Law (Juridicum) of the
University of Vienna, Schottenbastei 10-16, A-1010 Vienna, Austria.
General
Rounds. Each team will argue four times in the general rounds, twice as
claimant and twice as respondent. In its first two oral hearings, each team
will argue once as claimant and once as respondent. The respondent will be the
team that prepared the memorandum for respondent in opposition to the
memorandum for claimant that was sent to it. In its third and fourth oral
hearings the teams will argue against teams with which they were not paired for
the purpose of preparing written memoranda.
The
general rounds will be scheduled so that, in principle, each team will argue
once per day, Saturday through Tuesday. If there should be an odd number of
participating teams, or occasionally for other reasons, it may be necessary for
a team to argue twice on the same day.
Duration
of Oral Presentation. The oral presentation of each team is, in principle,
thirty (30) minutes. The team should allocate equitably the time available to
the two individual advocates. However, the arbitral tribunal may exceed the
time limits stated so long as neither team is allowed more than forty-five (45)
minutes to present its argument, including the time necessary to answer the
questions of the tribunal. It will be the responsibility of the tribunal to
ensure that the teams are treated fairly.
Arguments.
Claimants and respondents in their first hearing should expect to rely on the
arguments given in their written memoranda or to be prepared to justify why
that position has been abandoned. In subsequent hearings arbitrators may be
less demanding on this score as it is expected that teams will improve their
arguments during the Moot.
Questions
by Arbitrators. The arbitrators are requested to act during the oral hearings
as much as possible the way they would in a real arbitration. There are
significant differences in style dependent both on individual personalities and
on perceptions of the role of an arbitrator (or judge) in oral argument. Some
arbitrators, or arbitral tribunals, may interrupt a presentation with
persistent or even aggressive questioning. Other arbitrators, or arbitral
tribunals, may listen to an entire argument without asking any questions.
Therefore, teams should be prepared for both styles of oral presentation.
Order
of presentation. Normally the claimant will argue first. The arbitrators will
announce prior to each argument whether the claimant will be given an
opportunity to present rebuttal arguments, thereby, permitting the claimant to
argue last, or whether there will be no rebuttal, in which case the defendant
will argue last. Whether or not rebuttal will be allowed can be expected to
change from one argument to the next. The arbitral tribunal may also decide to
allow both sides to argue on an issue before arguments are made on a second
issue.
Scoring.
Each arbitrator will score each of the orators on a scale of 25 to 50. The scores
of the two orators will be added to constitute the team score for that
argument. Therefore, each team could score a maximum of 100 points per
arbitrator per argument, or a theoretical maximum of 1200 points for the four
arguments. Arbitrators will score the oral arguments without knowledge of the
results of earlier arguments. Some arbitrators will have participated in
evaluating the memoranda of teams whose oral arguments they later hear.
Although they will be aware of their own evaluation of the memoranda, they will
be without knowledge of the evaluations given by other arbitrators.
First
Elimination Round. After the general rounds, the scores of each team for its
oral presentation in the four arguments will be totaled. The sixteen teams that
have obtained the highest composite scores will meet Wednesday morning, 11
April 2001. They will be paired so that the first and sixteenth, second and
fifteenth, etc. will argue against one another. Ranking of the teams will not
be divulged until completion of the Final Round.
Second
Elimination Round (Quarter-Final Round). The winners of the first elimination
round will meet in the Quarter-final Round Wednesday afternoon, 11 April 2001.
Semi-Final
Round. The four winners of the Quarter-final Round will meet in the Semi-final
Round Thursday morning, 12 April 2001.
Final
Round. The two winners of the Semi-final Round will meet in the final round
Thursday afternoon, 12 April 2001.
Determination
as to which team is claimant and which is respondent. If the two teams in any
of the elimination rounds, including the final round, argued against one
another in the general rounds, they will argue for the opposite party in the
elimination round. If they did not argue against one another in the general
rounds, in the first elimination round the determination as to which team will
be claimant and which will be respondent will be determined by lot. In the
Quarter-Final and following Rounds, when one of the two teams in the preceding
round was claimant and the other was respondent, they will argue for the
opposite party for which they argued in that preceding round. If both teams
argued for the claimant or both argued for the respondent in the preceding
round, the decision as to which team will be claimant and which will be respondent
will be determined by lot.
Winning
Team. The winning team of the oral phase of the Arbitral Moot is the team that
wins the final round.
VI. Assistance
Written Memoranda. Although the students should do all the research and writing of the memoranda themselves - without assistance from anyone who is not a student member of the team - faculty advisors, coaches and others may help identify the issues, comment on the persuasiveness of the arguments the students have made in drafts and, when necessary, suggest other arguments the students might consider employing. However, the final product must be that of the students - not their advisors.
Oral
Hearings. There is no restriction on the amount of coaching that a team may
receive in preparation for the oral hearings. It is expected and encouraged
that teams will have practice arguments, whether against other members of the
team or against other teams that will participate in the Moot.
In
each oral hearing two members of the team will present the argument. No
communication with other members of the team who may be present at the hearing
is permitted.
One
purpose of the Arbitral Moot is to develop the art of advocacy in international
commercial arbitration proceedings. Observance of the performance of other
participants is one way to develop that art. Therefore, attendance of team
members at the arguments of other teams is permitted, except that no team, or
friends or relatives of members of a team, is permitted to attend arguments of
other teams against which it is scheduled to argue at a later time in the
general rounds. Violation of this rule will disqualify a team from
participation in the elimination rounds.
VII. Awards
Pieter
Sanders Award for Best Written Memorandum for Claimant.
Werner
Melis Award for Best Written Memorandum for Respondent.
Martin
Domke Award for Best Individual Oralist. This award for the general rounds will
be won by the individual advocate with the highest composite score during these
rounds. To be eligible for this award a participant must have argued at least
once for the claimant and once for the respondent.
Frédéric
Eisemann Award for Best Team Orals. This award will be made to the winning team
in the final round of the oral hearings.
VIII. Interpretation of the
Rules
Requests.
For interpretation of these rules, requests may be addressed to the Institute.
All interpretations, as well as any waivers, consents, or other decisions are
at the discretion of the Institute in its administration of the Arbitral Moot.
IX. Mailing Address
All
communications in regard to the Moot should be sent to:
Professor Eric E. Bergsten
International Commercial Arbitration Moot
Schimmelgasse 16/14
A-1030 Vienna
Austria
Tel: (43-1) 713-5408
Fax: (43-1) 713-5408
E-mail: eric.bergsten@chello.at
or ebergsten@law.pace.edu