The Faculty is delighted to congratulate the team representing Cambridge University at the 26th Willem C. Vis Moot International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition on reaching the Eighth Finals (round of 16) out of 372 participating Universities last week in Vienna, whilst also acquiring honourable mentions in all award categories.
The team comprised of Katherine Boucher (Jesus), Kathryn Handley (Lucy Cavendish), Gabriel Kaufmann (Girton), Rabin Kok (Peterhouse), Chui Ki Venus Ma (Newnham), William Moody (Clare), and Glen Tay (Homerton).
The Vis Moot is regarded as one of the most prestigious international moot court competitions, and has been called the ‘Olympic Games of Moot Courts’ by the BBC.
This year the dispute arose in the context of an international sale of goods under the UNCITRAL Rules of Arbitration, the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods, and the UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts.
This year’s team continued the great tradition the University has set the past few years and even expanded its presence, being the only UK team to break into the round of 16 out of 372 teams and to secure four honourable mentions covering the whole spectrum of awards: (i) an honourable mention for the Memorandum of Claimant; (ii) an honourable mention for the Memorandum of Respondent; (iii) an individual oralist honourable mention for William Moody (Clare); and, (iv) a team orals honourable mention for the whole team.
In addition, the team had a strong presence in the various Pre-Moots in which it took part. It won the Pre-Moot organised by White & Case in London with Glen Tay (Homerton) winning the best oralist award and William Moody (Clare) was awarded as best oralist in the Fox Williams & CIArb Pre-Moot.
The team was coached by Lord David Hacking, Kenneth Rokison QC, and Faidon Varesis (PhD, St John’s College).
The team is grateful for the strong support they received from both the Cambridge Law Faculty and Professor Brian Cheffins, as well as WilmerHale, and Franz Schwarz, who generously supported this year’s participation.
Finally, the team would like to extend its thanks to those who helped during the preparation of the written submissions and oral training of the team, in particular, to Professor Neil Andrews, Professor Richard Fentiman QC, Sir Christopher Clarke (Brick Court), Professor Anthony Daimsis (University of Ottawa), and Christopher Hancock QC (20 Essex Street).