Three out of the first four places awarded to international mooting teams
The University of Bern mooting team emerged victorious at this year’s fourth Fox Williams Pre-Moot, which took place in London over the weekend 2-3 March as a precursor to the Vis Moot in Vienna, which will take place in April. Runner-up was the Lomonosov Moscow State University team, with 3rd place being taken by the University of Cambridge and 4th place by Vis Moot team, Silesia.
William Moody of the University of Cambridge was named best individual advocate with honourable mentions going to Yiolanti Maou of Queen Mary University and to Tom Walker of Middle Temple. .
For the first time, the competition was held in association with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, which enabled the number of mooting teams to be increased this year to 16. The teams that competed were:
International teams
- Aalborg University (Denmark)
- Aix-Marseille University (France)
- Bern (Switzerland)
- University of Bonn (Germany)
- Graz University (Austria)
- Kobe University (Japan)
- University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)
- Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia)
- Silesia University (Poland)
UK teams
- University of Cambridge
- City, University of London
- University of East Anglia
- Lancaster University
- The Honorable Society of the Middle Temple
- Queen Mary University of London
- University of Sheffield
In another first, this year’s Pre-Moot was preceded by a panel debate chaired by Fox Williams international arbitration partner Peter Ashford, during which The Rt Hon Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Sir Michael Burton, Paula Hodges QC and Graham Dunning QC debated procedural issues arising in this year’s moot problem before a room of experienced practitioners.
Peter Ashford said: “On the Friday before the Pre-Moot, our distinguished panel addressed the moot problem with verve and new insights, leading to further debate amongst an audience of senior legal experts.
“This year we were delighted to welcome the Pre-Moot teams representing a wider geographical spread than in previous years, and that brought new perspectives to the mooting. Congratulations to all teams for the high standard of arguments (and to the coaches) and especially to the University of Bern, who were awarded first place in a very close contest.
“As ever, we are indebted to the many members of the arbitration and wider legal community who give their time as judges during the Pre-Moot in order to support the new generation of upcoming legal practitioners. Our thanks too to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, whose involvement this year pushed the Pre-Moot to new heights and which enabled us to increase the number of places available to the university mooting teams.”
