The 21st Willem C. Vis East International Commercial Arbitration Moot (“Vis East”) was held in Hong Kong, China, from March 11 to 17, 2024. In this year’s competition, Peking University School of Transnational Law (“STL”) moot team was recognized by arbitrators from all over the world for its excellent performance, emerging as one of only four teams from mainland China to reach the global top 32. It is the best result of STL Team in this competition in recent years. In addition, Zhuo Chen, one of the team members, won the Neil Kaplan Award for the Best Oral Advocate, ranking 1st out of at least 288 eligible oralists in terms of the average score in the oral pleadings. The team also received the Honorable Mention for Best Memorandum on Behalf of Respondent.
Vis Moot, which aims to promote the study and research of international commercial law and commercial arbitration on a global scale, is the largest, highest-level, and the most influential law competition in the field of international commercial law and international trade in goods, and is the only student competition organized by a United Nations agency in the world. Since 2003, the organizing committee of the competition has held Vis East in Hong Kong, China, which has developed into the world's largest international commercial arbitration moot court competition in addition to the Vis Moot (Vienna). This year’s event attracted a total of 144 teams from various countries and regions around the world, including teams from Tsinghua University, Duke University, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, University of Zurich, University of Vienna, University of Göttingen and University of Helsinki, etc.
STL team was led by Moot Court Director Xiaoya Qiu, with coaching from Graduate and International Programs Director Cole Agar and Visiting Professor Soterios Loizou. Yuan Lin, a 3L student, is also served as the student coach. The team comprises 2L students Zhuo Chen, Xuechen Li, Yue Tang, and Shiyang Zhang. The team also received guidance from Prof. Mark Feldman, Interim Dean of STL. Dr.Yang Li. Yucong Zhao , Xiaoqiao Wei and Zheyuan Si provided substantial support and assistance to the team as well.
STL Team first participated in AIAC APAC International Commercial Arbitration Moot in February 2024 organized by the Asian International Arbitration Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The team successfully ranked top 32 in the general round and accumulated valuable experience for Vis East.
In March 2024, STL Team traveled to Hong Kong to participate in Vis East. After four intense competitions respectively against TEAM ID 478, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, University of Heidelberg and Kwansei Gakuin University, STL Team advanced to the Global Top 32. They also seized the chance to engage in insightful discussions with leading international professional arbitrators. Of particular note was their interaction with Ulrich G. Schroeter, the arbitrator for the third match. As the Dean of Research from University of Basel and the member of the Advisory Board of CISG, Professor Schroeter has a wealth of experience in international sales law.
Reflecting on the experience, Neil Kaplan Award winner Zhuo Chen shared, “Vis East is a wonderful concept. For the hour in moot court, law students from all over the world forget who they are supposed to be and fully engage in their roles, using the same language and the same set of rules, and exploring the same topic. My favorite part is to have a continuous discussion with the arbitrators on a certain case contention, and to feel that the arguments which have been tested from many oppositions during the preparation are collided and challenged by new points of view. In this process, I can also see my growth from the beginning when I only wanted to output my own logical closed loop, to the later, when, even if I use the challenges raised by the arbitrators as a bridge, I can still tell a good story.”
STL Team continued its rigorous and serious professional attitude, and open and tolerant learning spirit in this year’s Vis East, and won another impressive achievement for STL in the international moot competition. We look forward to STL Moot Team’s future success!
