News Update
Legal Discourse on the Claimant's Memo, November 2023
Many thanks to Pitkowitz & Partners, and especially to Nikolaus Pitkowitz and Peter Machherndl, for welcoming us to their offices and taking the time to help us develop the arguments in our Memorandum for Claimant! Your feedback and practical insights have helped tremendously!
We are more than grateful for the continous support
of Nikolaus, Roxanne, Sheila, Peter, Maximilian, Johanna, Teresa and Caroline and look forward to also discussing our Memorandum for Respondent with you in a few weeks.
Starting the Vis Moot Journey: Zurich Insights, October 2023
Zurich served as a starting point for our Vis Moot journey this season. Our team fostered connections with teams from Switzerland, Italy and Russia, and delved into insightful lectures on the CISG and arbitration. The vibrant cityscape of Zurich became the backdrop for our intensive learning sessions and valuable networking experiences, setting the tone for an exciting Vis Moot season ahead.
Introducing the New WU Vis Moot Team, September 2023
We are delighted to introduce this year's team representing WU Vienna in the 31st Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot and the 21st Vis East Moot.
We are Sidonie Ecker, Kristof Pieper, Fabijan Berket, Linda Teichtmeister, Nikolaus Vetter, and Lara Matuschka, and we are more than thrilled to embark on an exciting journey: first, preparing four Memoranda, and second, traveling to lots of pre-moots and getting to know teams and mooties from every part of the world.
We would like to express our gratitude to our encouraging Coaches and Pitkowitz & Partners, especially Nikolaus Pitkowitz, Roxanne de Jesus, Sheila Schwaighofer, Peter Machherndl, and Maximilian Albert Müller, for their unwavering and highly valuable support throughout our Vis Moot journey.
Ending the 30th Vis Moot, April 2023
And just like that, the 30th Willem C. Vis Moot Court is officially over. As we reflect upon these very intense seven months of dedication and sleepless nights, we are already missing the amazing time we had. Our Vis Moot journey has taught us a lot: What it means to work hard, long hours and how far we can go with the right people by our side – accompanied by a fair amount of practice all over Europe from Brno to Stockholm, London, Helsinki and Berlin all the way to Belgrade. And most importantly, it has brought us friendships all over the globe which will stay forever.
In the end, it all paid off:
We are delighted to announce that the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team received an Honourable Mention for the Best Memorandum for Claimant (top 27 out of over 380 teams worldwide).
What a great achievement!
Traveling through Europe, March 2023
In early March, we participated in the 19th Helsinki Pre-Moot 2023. The WU Vis Moot Team placed second runner-up – what a great team effort! On top of that, our Merits-Rockstar Lisbeth won the Best Oralist award!
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Furthermore, this season's Pre-Moot journey took us to Berlin, London and Belgrade.
Successfully starting into the Pre-Moot phase, February 2023
This season's first in-person Pre-Moot led us to Brno – where we spent a truly amazing weekend. Thanks to a great team effort, our team reached the first place in the IX Brno Pre-Moot! On top of that, our team members Florian and Jakob were awarded Best and Second-Best Speaker. We could not be any prouder.
At the same time, we partook in the Second Asia Pacific Vis Pre Moot. Out of more than 100 participating teams, we managed to make it to the semi-finals and placed as the second runners-up.
Last (for now) but definitely not least, we are very happy that we had the chance to travel to Stockholm and participate in the DLA Piper Pre-Moot 2023. We had a great time meeting many fellow mooties and listening to very interesting speeches and panel discussions.
Introducing the new WU Vis Moot Team, September 2022
Meet the new WU Vienna Vis Moot Team!
We are Laura, Jakob, Florian, Lisbeth, Katharina and Alexandra (left to right), and we are more than excited to make the best out of this year‘s Vis Moot Season!
Success at the Warsaw Pre-Moot, March 2022
Our next adventure took us to Warsaw, where we were able to clinch the title and place first at the 13th Warsaw Pre-Moot. Our procedure rockstar Benjamin Pirker was awarded third best speaker!
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Thanks to all the organizers! Especially in these turbulent times, we were humbled by the Polish hospitality and the unprecedented courage of our fellow mooties from Ukraine who participated from their kitchen tables in Kyiv - you truly are the winner of the hearts!​
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Celebrations, May 2022
Special thanks to our sponsors Pitkowitz & Partners and especially to Dr. Nikolaus Pitkowitz, Roxanne de Jesus and Sheila Schwaighofer for inviting us to celebrate this year‘s success of the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team!
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And most importantly, thanks a lot for the continous support during the written as well as the oral phase! We are more than grateful.
Ending the 29th Vis Moot, April 2022
What a journey the past 7 months have been!
This marks the end of our Vis Moot journey. Seven months of hard work, sleepless nights and most importantly a lot of fun growing closer as a team. Not to mention travelling to great in-person pre-moots and getting to know many fellow mooties from all around the world. Ending our journey dancing on tables while performing karaoke really was a blast.
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The hard work more than paid off:
We are delighted that the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team placed among the best 32 out of 365 participating teams in the 29th Willem C. Vis Moot.
With that we are even prouder of Veronika and Benjamin for receiving honorable mentions for their outstanding oral performance in the finale.
Also the written submissions as our greatest team effort didn’t go unnoticed as we received an honorable mention for our Memorandum for Claimant.
Very well done - Lukas Berghuber, Laura Sophia Gottardi, Arlene Hartl, Benjamin Pirker, Veronika Reisinger and Richard Zierhut.
A huge and special thanks goes to our coaches Alina, Caroline, Daniel, Dominik, Tim and Paul and sponsors, especially Nikolaus Pitkowitz, Roxanne de Jesus, Sheila Schwaighofer from Pitkowitz & Partners - this wouldn’t have been able without all your constant and extremely valuable support!
It was a true pleasure meeting so many great people on the way!
Finishing the Pre-Moot phase in Belgrade,
April 2022
Our last in-person pre-moot took us to Belgrade, Serbia.
In Belgrade we got to not only attend the Belgrade Arbitration Conference and listen to scholars and practitioners discuss different arbitration-related topics, but also plead against amazing opposing counsels from Belgrade, Würzburg, Mannheim, Copenhagen and Milan.
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More importantly, we got to know many teams from around the world, had breakfast with Dr. Pitkowitz and Prof. Schwenzer and partied endlessly.
A big thank you to all the organizers of this great event, especially our friends from the Belgrade Vis Moot Team for hosting us and this amazing experience.
Fun and success in Lisbon, March 2022
Another week(end), another pre-moot. In March, we attended the
IV Lisbon Pre-Moot hosted by Cuatrecasas in Lisbon.
We are very happy to announce that the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team advanced to the finale and placed as the first runner-up.
Lukas, Arlene, Laura, Veronika, Benjamin, Richy - amazing team effort!
The pre-moot was both a great success and lots of fun pleading side-by-side with 11 other in-person and 8 online teams. Congrats to our opposing counsels from National Law University, Delhi, University of Belgrade, NOVA and University of Graz.
Also, congrats again to the mooties from the University of Vienna!
Big thank you to all the people involved in the organization! We look back at a truly amazing time in Lisbon!
Austrian Pre-Moot, March 2022
We are happy to announce that we placed as the first runners-up in the 3rd Austrian Pre-Moot organized by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
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Congratulations especially to the team from the University of Graz on your well-deserved victory. Also, congrats to the other teams from University of Vienna and University of Innsbruck – it was a lot of fun pleading the case side by side with all of you!
And of course, a huge thank you to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for the fantastic organization! It was once again a great day full of high-level pleadings.
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And finally, we want to express our gratitude to all the participating arbitrators and especially to the arbitral tribunal in the final round, consisting of Niamh Leinwather, Sherlin Tung and Martin Hackl. It was an honour to present our arguments to you!
More pleading fun at the APAC Pre-Moot, February 2022
Not even a week after our first ever in-person pleadings, we had the chance to attend the first ever Asia Pacific Vis Pre-Moot. After very exciting pleading rounds with six different teams, we are very proud to announce that we are the second runners-up and have placed among the top four out of 88 participating teams.
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To top it off, we placed #1 of the 88 participating teams in the general rounds. We are truly proud of all team members! Lukas, Laura, Arlene, Benny, Vero, Richy – what a great team effort!
With that, four of our speakers placed at the very top of the 366 participating oralists: Lukas Berghuber was ranked #1 oralist with the highest individual score, Arlene Hartl placed #4, Veronika Reisinger #5 and Benjamin Pirker #11. Veronika Reisinger received the “Best Oralist Award” as she scored the highest having argued for both sides and was therefore awarded an internship opportunity at WilmerHale. What an accomplishment!
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Thanks to all the organizers, teams and fellow mooties, it was a pleasure (virtually) meeting you and pleading the case with you!
Getting to know VIAC, February 2022
On February 23, 2022 we had the great opportunity to receive highly interesting insights to the Vienna International Arbitral Centre. Niamh Leinwather, Secretary General of the VIAC, introduced us to the daily business at the VIAC, followed by lectures on “Top 10 tips for oral advocacy” and “How to start a career in international arbitration”.
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The event was organized as a collaboration between the VIAC and the Vienna University of Economics and Business. It surely was a great success as teams and mooties from all around the world participated.
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Thanks again to all the organizers and especially Niamh Leinwather for this very interesting and informative event!
Practice makes perfect, October – November 2021
Kick-starting this years’ Vis Moot by attending the (virtual) Vis Moot School Switzerland really got us in the mood for the Moot. We not only had highly educational lessons, but also lots of fun growing closer as a team (as you can see in the picture). We once again want to thank Benjamin Gottlieb for organizing such a great week full of arbitration and CISG insights!
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After the first weeks of working on our Memorandum for Claimant, we had the chance to review our arguments with our head sponsor Pitkowitz & Partners. We are more than lucky to receive such helpful support and highly interesting insights from a firm that recently got ranked among the top100 arbitration practices worldwide. Dr. Nikolaus Pitkowitz, Roxanne de Jesus and Sheila Schwaighofer gave us very helpful tips, tricks and food for thought to improve our Memo and legal writing.
Thank you very much for your time and continuous support!
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Jump-starting the Oral Phase in Dubai, February 2022
Only five days after submitting our Memorandum for Respondent, we had the opportunity to be one of the ten participating teams at the Lazareff Les Bars Pre-Moot in Dubai, UAE.
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It was truly a pleasure and very much fun attending this pre-moot in person and pleading side by side with our fellow mooties. We learned a lot and could benefit immensely from the feedback of many renowned arbitrators from all around the world.
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We definitely got to feel the Vis Moot Spirit amongst all the participants!
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Kicking off a new Vis Moot Season, September 2021
Let us introduce this years’ WU Vienna Vis Moot Team!
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Laura, Lukas, Arlene, Benjamin, Veronika and Richard are more than excited for this years’ Vis Moot season! We cannot wait for what’s ahead of us!
Thank you, Vis Moot Season 2020/2021!
WU Vienna's Vis Moot Blues just grooved into a grand finale last week!
We still cannot believe that we made it into the final rounds and that we then continued our run there up until the top 16 teams.
That our charming Benedikt Mayer and Tim Kirchmayr were awarded honourable mentions as best oralists really was a cherry on top of that great success.
Above all, we are most proud that our Respondent memorandum was awarded the Werner Melis Award for the third best memorandum worldwide. Our whole journey was a great team effort - to end it in that way is still mesmerizing for all of us until this point.
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The WU Vienna Vis Moot Team awards its coaches Alina Holzer, Dominik Loidl, Paul Nimmerfall and Daniel Schmidt with the Best Coaches Award. Without doubt, all four of you win this award - content-wise as well as personally. Thanks for being the most caring and fun coaches we could wish for!
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Thank you too to everybody who supported us along our journey: Graf & Pitkowitz, Dr. Nikolaus Pitkowitz, Anna Katharina Radschek, Roxanne de Jesus, Schönherr Rechtsanwälte, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Amanda Neil, Matthias Hofer, Eric Leikin, AKG Advisory, Anne-Karin Grill and Aaron Muhly!
Success in Various Pre-Moots, March 2021
We are happy and proud to announce that the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team was able to line up in the front rows in several Pre-Moots.
In the CAM Santiago Vis Pre-Moot, the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team was awarded the Second Runner Up and Alexia Crivoi even received an honourable mention for her outstanding pleading performance. We had the chance to plead against great opposing counsels from Universidad de Montevideo (Uruguay) and School of Law, Christ University (India)!
Only one week later, the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team was awarded Second Runner Up in the DLA Piper Global Vis Pre-Moot 2021 St. Petersburg. Congratulations to all our opposing counsels from MGIMO University (Russia), University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), University of Warsaw (Poland) and University of Turku (Finland) - we were impressed by your performances.
To top it off, the WU Team was able to celebrate a top 10 result at the Budapest Pre-Moot in a competition of 100 teams.
Many thanks to all the organizers, it truly was an honour and a blast participating in your Pre-Moots!
Furthermore, the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team wants to express its gratitude to the organizers of the IAC Central Asia Vis Pre-Moot, the Hannover Pre-Moot, the ICDR Practice Moot, the NYU Vis Practice Moot and the API Pre-Moot in Canada.
Practice Makes Perfect, February and March 2021
Luckily, Covid-19 did not only bring challenges, but also enabled us to practice with any Vis Moot Team we could wish for. Without exaggeration, the WU Vienna Vis Moot Team met Mooties from all around the world, including teams from Asia, Oceania, Africa, Northern and Southern America and Europe. The intense practice sessions definitely helped us to succeed in the oral rounds in the Vienna finals. We are incredibly grateful for the learnings as well as the nice chats before and after the training sessions. We hope to meet many of the Mooties in Vienna some day!
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Among others, we practiced with the Vis Moot Teams from Kyiv National Taras University (Ukraine), Bahcesehir University School of Law (Turkey), University of Belgrade (Serbia), International Islamic University Malaysia (Malaysia), Universidad Panamericana (Mexico), National Law School of India University (India), RUDN University (Russia), Bocconi University (Italy), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France), HSG St. Gallen (Switzerland), London School of Economics (UK),
University of Graz (Austria), Sofia University (Bulgaria), University of Queensland (Australia), University of Pavia (Italy), National University of Rosario (Argentina) and many more.
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Thanks to all the Teams and Mooties, it was a pleasure meeting you and pleading the case with you!
Successful Title Defense at the Austrian Pre-Moot, March 2021
We are very happy and thankful to announce our victory and defense of the title at the Austrian Pre-Moot Court!
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Congratulations too to the other teams from Central European University, University of Graz and University Innsbruck – it was a blast pleading the case side by side you with you all!
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A huge thank you to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for the fantastic organization! And finally, we want to express our gratitude to the arbitral tribunal in the final round, consisting of Mag. Anne-Karin Grill, Dr. Michael Walbert and Dr. Günther Horvath. It was an honour to present our arguments to you!
Practicing our Legal Writing and Negotiation Skills with Aaron Muhly, January and February 2021
Luckily, we got the chance to practice our writing skills with Aaron Muhly! We gained really valuable insights into clear legal writing – using special tools to magically restructure literally any sentence to make it easily understandable.
Since we enjoyed Aaron’s first workshop a lot, we immediately applied for the negotiation skills workshop. It was exceptionally helpful for the oral pleadings, which are about to start.
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We cannot wait to put the knowledge we have gained into practice in the pleadings!
Visiting the Austrian Supreme Court, October 2020
During the last days before lockdown no. 2 was announced, we got the opportunity to visit the Austrian Supreme Court. Guided by Dr. Matthias Neumayr, vice president of the Austrian Supreme Court and member of the arbitration chamber, we not only gained valuable insights into some very interesting arbitration cases the Austrian Supreme Court dealt with in the past years but also into the history of the court building.
Thank you for having us!
Writing the Memos, October 2020 - January 2021
Ready to rumble!
While we were very happy to spend the first weeks of writing the Memorandum for Claimant at university, we sadly had to adapt to distance mode (again). Towards the end of November, we received very helpful feedback from Graf & Pitkowitz Rechtsanwälte, the coffee breaks got shorter and the discussions got more intense.
After a little Christmas break, we reorganized our minds and put ourselves in Respondents’ shoes. Just on time, we were happy to upload our Memorandum for Respondents after trying to counter all of the arguments the opposing counsels of Faculdade Baiana de Direito brought up in their Memorandum for Claimant.
A new Vis Moot Season begins, September 2020
While waiting impatiently for this year’s case (left picture), we used the time for preparation by attending the first virtual Vis Moot School Switzerland (picture below)! Not only did we start to dive into CISG and arbitration, but we also really bonded within our team. Many thanks to Benjamin Gottlieb for organizing the Vis Moot School!
What a great start into the new Vis Moot season!
Thank you, Vis Moot Season 2019/2020
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of COVID-19, it was the age of the first-ever-virtual Vis Moot Court. It was the epoch of our first ever won Bergsten Award, it was the epoch of celebrations only at a distance. It was a February of hope, it was a March of despair. In short: it was the Vis Moot Season 2019/2020.
This unique Vis Moot Court season came to a fulminate end this April. We were delighted to have pleaded against the outstanding teams from Moscow, Lisbon, the Maldives, and Florida in the finale. Further, it was a mesmerizing experience to making it into the final eliminations rounds this year for the first time in our yet recent history (also "Die Presse" reported about the success of the Viennese teams this year). The pleading against the University
of Cologne certainly was a pleading to remember and we are proud that we were honoured with the Bergsten Award in the finale.
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Further, we are proud to have won the Pre-Moot Courts in Vienna, Slovenia, and St. Petersburg this year.
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All of this would not have been possible without the support of Schönherr Rechtsanwälte, EVN AG, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Most of all, we want to thank our main sponsor Graf & Pitkowitz Rechtsanwälte around the superb and very supportive arbitration team of Dr. Nikolaus Piktowitz. We could not have accomplished this without all of your support - thank you!
Success in St. Petersburg, March 2020
Thank you for being our last pre-moot, beautiful St. Petersburg!
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While the days leading up until the pre-moot in St. Petersburg were clouded with worries about whether we will be able to enter Russia and how fast COVID-19 is spreading across Europe, we were delighted to make it to St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, our journey had to end here, and attending the next pre-moot in Moscow as originally planned was no longer feasible.
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We are proud to having won the great Pre-Moot of St. Petersburg - it was a true delight pleading against so many highly motivated teams in these dark hours. Thank you for making our stay such a pleasure, DLA Piper!
Hyvää Päivää Helsinki, March 2020
Helsinki, it was a blast!
We want to thank all the participating teams and most of all Hannes Snellman, Castren & Snellman, and Roschier Attorneys. We certainly will be back!
Going to the Baltics, February 2020
Riga, here we come!
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After meeting our friends and colleagues from Austria in the past week at the Austrian Pre-Moot Court, we are already looking forward to meeting up with many more teams from all across Europe to discuss the lovely city of Greenacre and it's hydro powerplant!
Success at the Austrian Pre-Moot Court, February 2020
Proud to announce: WU Vienna is the winner of the First Austrian Pre-Moot Court. The perfect ending to a splendid pre-moot!
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It was a true delight of pleading alongside the teams of Graz, Linz and Innsbruck. Thank you so much for having us, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer!
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We also are particularly honoured to winning the finale pleading against our friends from Graz in front of the tribunal constituted of Dr. Alice Fremuth-Wolf, DDr. Markus Beham and Dr. Nikolaus Pitkowitz!
Meeting the Arbitration Experts at VIAC, February 2020
Luckily, were able to meet the superb arbitration team from the Vienna International Arbitral Centre ("VIAC"). It was a true delight to have the opportunity to discuss all issues related to arbitration with Mag. Johanna Kathan-Spath and Mag. Stephan Karall. Thank you for having us!
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We also want to thank General Secretary Dr. Alice Fremuth-Wolf for organising this great experience and to enable us and the Vis Moot teams from Linz, Innsbruck and Graz to meet and to have a round of pleadings at the VIAC. It was great for us to practice our debating techniques in the hearing rooms where many international arbitration hearings are held on a regular basis. Thank you for this great experience, VIAC!
Successful Start into the Pre-Moot Season in Slovenia, February 2020
Our first moot-court in Ljubljana was a great success and we are proud to announce that we were able to succeed with the first place in the competition!
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A large part of this early success can surely be contributed to our rounds of practice pleadings in Vienna!
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Graf & Pitkowitz was so kind to host us twice and to provide us with very thorough and helpful feedback in each session. We are grateful for the valuable insights we received by Dr. Nikolaus Pitkowitz, Mag. Anna Katharina Radschek, Mag. Roxanne de Jesus and Mag. Stefan Dobrijevic!
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Further, we also had a great and very helpful pleading at PLATTE. Thank you very much for your extremely helpful advice and feedback, Mag. Martin Platte and Mag. Nicol Schneider. We have profited from these rounds immensely!
Writing the Memos, October 2019 - January 2020
Celebration now begins!
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The memorandum for claimant was successfully uploaded in December 2019, the one for respondent followed suit today. It was great to work on our arguments in such detail and we surely have read all there is to know about hydro powerplants these past months.
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We, in particular, want to thank the arbitration team of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, who was kind enough to provide us with a training session on effective legal writing. Thank you so much, Mr. Eric Leikin and Mr. Matthias Hofer for your valuable insights and for this truly great session!
Grüezi Zürich, September 2019
The new Vis Moot season just kicked off and what a better way to start into it than by meeting so many fellow mooties in Zurich for the Vis Moot School Switzerland!
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These days in Zurich were packed with great lectures from the leading arbitration individuals from Switzerland during the day and with many memorable moments during the night. Thank you so much for organising this great experience, Benjamin Gottlieb!
