11-13 March 2022

13th Moscow Pre-Moot

### 12th Moscow Pre-Moot

On 12 March 2021, the traditional conference on the eve of the Moscow Pre-Moot was held. The conference was kicked off by a workshop in which Nadia Smahi (Associate at Bär & Karrer), Mag. Oliver Loksa (Counsel at Hausmaninger Kletter Rechtsanwälte-Gesellschaft m.b.H.) and Yulia Mullina (Executive Administrator at the Russian Arbitration Center) discussed virtual hearings and due process considerations that might arise in the course of such hearings.

During the first session of the conference, Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Schwenzer (Dean at Swiss International Law School and Professor (em. at University of Basel, Counsel and Arbitrator), Associate Prof. Dr. Andrey Schirvindt (Lomonosov Moscow State University), Prof. Loukas Mistelis (Queen Mary University of London) and Assistant Prof. Dr. Milena Djordjević (Director of Center for Legal Skills at the University of Belgrade) as a moderator discussed the legal standard of application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and whether it can provide an effective legal framework for contracts related to vaccines.

In the second session, Dr. Dorothee Schramm (Partner at Sidley Austin LLP), Boris Malakhov (Partner at Lidings) and Dr. Nadine Lederer (Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells) as a moderator discussed various questions related to the exclusive licenses, including third-party rights.

On 13 March 2021, the online rounds of the Pre-Moot began, with each team playing at least twice as claimant and respondent.

The second day of the general rounds took place on 14 March. Teams of Lomonosov Moscow State University and SASTRA University were qualified to the Final Round of the Moscow Pre-Moot arguing before Margaret L. Moses (Institute for International Law and Practice at Loyola University Chicago), Andrey Shirvindt (Lomonosov Moscow State University) and Jan Paulsson (Founding Partner of Three Crowns LLP).

The distinguished panel crowned Lomonosov Moscow State University team as a winner of the 2021 Moscow Pre-Moot. The best speaker - Dana Gabidullina (Lomonosov Moscow State University).

To summarise, we organised 109 rounds in two days, including the Final Round.

We received over 100 applications from the teams to join the Pre-Moot, but only 53 teams from Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Indonesia, India, Poland, Turkey, Serbia, Italy, China, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Netherlands, USA, Guatemala, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Singapore, Slovakia and Iran were admitted as participants.

More than 150 arbitrators expressed a desire to participate in the biggest Moscow Pre-Moot in its history, and another 20 arbitrators acted as emergency arbitrators. 

We, more than 40 organisers and volunteers who administered the rounds, would like to thank all the teams and arbitrators for accomplishing our cherished goal to make the Moscow Pre-Moot a valuable platform for the teams to advance into elimination rounds in Vienna or Hong Kong and for the future career of the participants as international lawyers.

The Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration is grateful to UNCITRAL for its support. The Institute would also like to thank its partners: KIAP, Dentons, Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners, Lidings, and information partners: Global Arbitration News and Transnational Dispute Management.

In just one weekend, the Moscow Pre-Moot brought together more than 600 people! 



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12th Moscow Pre-Moot

### 9th Moscow Pre-Moot

On 2-4 March 2018 the Faculty of Law of Lomonosov Moscow State University hosted the 9th Moscow Pre-Moot to the world’s leading moot competition in private law and arbitration – the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

The Moscow Pre-Moot consisted of a set of mock arbitration hearings, in which teams of students represented parties to an international sale of goods dispute before panels of experienced arbitration practitioners and scholars.

To bring the participants a little bit closer to a success in Vienna, on 2 March 2018 the organizers prepared the Vis Moot Workshop where renowned Vienna arbitrators and coaches gave the tips to participants. The Workshop on practical skills will be followed by the Conference “Battle of forms and Conformity under the CISG and Challenge of arbitrators” with a special guest Larry A. DiMatteo. The event ended up with the Welcome Reception and Evening City Walk.

To make the 9th Moscow Pre-moot a more exciting event we arranged a cultural and social programme: guided tours to Lomonosov University, including to the top of the Main Building, Moscow Theaters Tour, a walk in the historic center of Moscow, a journey via Moscow tube and of course visits to the bars.

Fourteen Russian and foreign teams (Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Kirgizstan) took part in the 9th Moscow Pre-moot. During 3d and 4th of March, each team pleaded at least 4 times for both Claimant and Respondent. Based on the average scores received by individual participants, the team of the University of Bonn won the Pre-moot. The team of Lomonosov Moscow State University finished 2nd, and the team of National Research University Higher School of Economics – 3rd. The prizes were also awarded to the top three students for individual performance: 1st – Hannah Franziska Freitag (University of Bonn), 2nd – Vladimir Kostsov (Higher School of Economics), 3rd – Lodovico Amianto (Higher School of Economics).

The event would not be possible without the sponsor’s support. The Pre-moot organizers take this opportunity to thank Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners, Morgan Lewis, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners and Lidings for their financial support and overall contribution. Information partners of the Moscow Pre-moot were Private Law Research Center named after S.S. Alexeyev under the President of the Russian Federation, International Commercial Arbitration Review, Russian Law Journal, Consultant Plus, Garant.


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9th Moscow Pre-Moot

### 8th Moscow Pre-Moot

8th Moscow Pre-Moot took place on 18-19 March 2017 and gathered up to 20 foreign (India, Germany, Switzerland, Serbia, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan) and Russian teams. The Willem C. Vis Moot is a leading competition for students, where the teams from all over the globe prepare written and oral submissions on the matters related to the international sale of goods and international commercial arbitration. While the main competition takes place in Vienna, each year various pre-moots are organized in leading law schools of the world with the aim to help the teams to train their arguments before Vienna. Lomonosov University hosts the Pre-Moot since 2010. The participating teams include Russian and foreign teams.

The weekend pleadings were preceded by the Workshop “How to succeed in Vienna” and Conference “Commencement of arbitration and Security of costs” on 17 March 2017. The speakers were Dmitry Marenkov (Germany Trade & Invest, Senior Lawyer (Bonn)), Sergey Usoskin (Double Bridge Law, Attorney, Vis Moot Coach (Moscow)), Uros Zivkovic (University of Belgrade, Lecturer, Vis Moot Coach (Belgrade)), Anna Kozmenko (Schellenberg Wittmer, Senior Associate (Zurich)), Andrei Gorlenko (Arbitration Center at the ANO “ISA”, Executive Administrator (Moscow)) and Egor Chiliko, (Independent Practitioner (Moscow)). This year the event took place in the Lumiere Brothers Center of Photography and was followed by Welcome Reception.

Each year based on the scores given to the teams and individual speakers (which plead for both claimant and respondent at least once) the organizers of the Pre-Moot announce the three top teams and speakers of the Pre-Moot. This year the winner was the team of University of Belgrade (Serbia). The Moscow State University team finished second, and the Russian State University of Justice team – 3rd.

The Best individual speaker of this year was Katarina Tomic (University of Belgrade), the second – Faras Mirhoseiny (University of Mannheim), and the 3rd place went to Tatyana Radivozhevich (University of Belgrade).

Organizing the Pre-Moot would be impossible without the support of its partners. The organizing committee would like to thank the main partners – Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners Law Firm, White & Case, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Lidings who provided financial and organizational support. Information partners of the pre-moot were Private Law Research Center named after S.S. Alexeyev under the President of the Russian Federation, Russian Law Journal, Consultant Plus, Garant, Institute of Modern Arbitration, RAA40 and RAA25.


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8th Moscow Pre-Moot

### 7th Moscow Pre-Moot

Lomonosov Moscow State University hosted 7th Moscow Pre-Moot, which took place on 26-28 February 2016 at the new modern premises of the Faculty of Law. Moscow Pre-Moot represents training sessions to the world’s leading moot competition on private law and arbitration – Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held annually in Vienna. It consists of a series of simulated arbitration proceedings arising from the dispute between the parties to the international sale of goods. This year the moot proceedings were governed by VIAC Rules.

It was our honor that Secretary General of VIAC Dr.iur Manfred Heider attended Moscow Pre-moot who presented arguments on the Conference “Document production and recovery of damages in arbitration”.

The following teams participated for Moscow Pre-moot:

- International University “MITSO” (Belarus);
- University of Neuchatel (Switzerland);
- Westminster International University in Tashkent (Uzbekistan);
- University of Passau (Germany);
- University of Belgrade (Serbia);
- Belarussian State University (Belarus);
- Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) (Russia);
- MGIMO-University (Russia);
- Utrecht University (Netherlands);
- Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic);
- Russian State University of Justice (Russia);
- Karl-Franzens Univeristy Graz (Austria);
- Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (Russia);
- National Research University Higher School of Economics (Russia);
- University of Sao Paulo (Brazil);
- Kutafin Moscow State Law University (Russia)

To bring the participants a little bit closer to a success in Vienna, on 26 February 2016 the Vis Moot Workshop was organized where renowned Vienna arbitrators gave the tips to participants. The Workshop in practical skills was followed by the Conference devoted to some issues raised by Willem C Vis organizers this year.

To make the 7th Moscow Pre-moot a more exciting event the organizing committee arranged a cultural and social program: guided tours around VDNKH and historic center of Moscow, ice skating at the Red Square, a tour to Lomonosov University and surroundings (including a photo shoot), journey via Moscow tube and drinks under the roof of one Moscow-City skyscrapers, welcome reception at the restaurant with modern Russia cuisine and awards banquet at the panoramic restaurant.

Based on the scores given to the teams and individual speakers (which plead for both claimant and respondent at least once) the organizers of the Pre-Moot announce the three top teams and speakers of the Pre-Moot. This year the winner was the team of University of Passau (Germany). University of Belgrade team finished second, and the Higher School of Economics team (Moscow branch) – 3rd.

The Best individual speaker of this year was Felix Hofreither (University of Passau), the second – Elena Todic (University of Belgrade), and the 3rd place went to Tamara Kulick (MGIMO-University).

Organizing the Pre-Moot would be impossible without the support of its partners. The organizing committee would like to thank the main partners – Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners Law Firm, Cleary Gottlieb, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, White & Case, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Lidings, Ivanyan & Partners who provided financial and organizational support. Information partners of the pre-moot were zakon.ru, Russian Law Journal, Consultant Plus.


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7th Moscow Pre-Moot

### 6th Moscow Pre-Moot

On 14 and 15 March 2015 Lomonosov Moscow State University hosted the 6th Willem C. Vis Moscow Pre-moot. The Willem C. Vis Moot is a leading competition for students, where the teams from all over the globe prepare written and oral submissions on the matters related to the international sale of goods and international commercial arbitration. This year’s moot case involved the issues of jurisdiction over a non-signatory to an arbitration agreement and emergency arbitration (the proceedings were governed by the ICC Rules), as well as the problem of avoidance for fundamental breach in commodity sales under the CISG.

While the main competition takes place in Vienna, each year various pre-moots are organized in leading law schools of the world with the aim to help the teams to train their arguments before Vienna. Lomonosov University hosts the Pre-Moot since 2010. The participating teams include Russian and foreign teams. This year, together with Russian teams, the University was happy to welcome Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz team (Austria) and Ankara team (Turkey).

Not only the Moscow Pre-Moot is a helpful step in preparation to Vienna rounds for those competing in the Moot, but is also a great networking experience. The Pre-Moot gathers partners and lawyers from various Russian and international law firms, such as Quinn Emmanuel, White & Case, Baker & McKenzie, Cleary Gottlieb, Morgan Lewis, Alrud, EPAM, as well as academics, former Vis Moot participants and coaches of the teams. It is therefore a unique opportunity for any interested lawyer or a law student to interact with other people sharing the same interests and working in the field of dispute resolution and commercial law.

Each year, based on the scores given to the teams and individual speakers (which plead for both claimant and respondent at least once) the organizers of the Pre-Moot announce the three top teams and speakers of the Pre-Moot. This year the winner was the team of Peoples’ Friendship University. The Graz team finished second, and the MGIMO team – 3rd. The Best individual speaker of this year is Oleg Blinov (MGIMO), the second – Ani Astabattsyan (Lomonosov Moscow State University), and the 3rd place went to Vladislav Osykyn (MGIMO).

Organizing the Pre-Moot would be impossible without the support of its partners. The Lomonosov University would like to thank the main partners – Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners Law Firm (and Yury Monastyrky personally), Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (and ScoƩ Senecal and Yury Babichev personally) and White & Case (and personally David Goldberg and Julia Zagonek) and supporting partners – Morgan Lewis & Bockius (and Jonathan Hines personally), Lidings (and personally Stepan Guzey) and Baker & Mckenzie (and personally Vladimir Khvalei).

The University is also grateful to the media partner of the event – Russian Law Journal (www.russianlawjournal.org).

Essential assistance to the event was kindly provided by the members of RAA25 Organizing Commitee – Ays Lidzhanova, Roman Kuzmin, Andrey Chernov and Alexandra Shmarko and by Olga Narkaeva.


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6th Moscow Pre-Moot

### 5th Moscow Pre-Moot

On 22-23 March 2014 the Faculty of Law of Lomonosov Moscow State University hosted the 5th Moscow Pre-Moot to the world’s leading moot competition in private law and arbitration – the Willem C. Vis Internatonal Commercial Arbitration Moot. Since inception in 2010 the Moscow Pre-moot has grown from a small event, with only a few Russian teams participating, to a well-known forum bringing together hundreds of participants coming both from Russia and abroad where student-participants meet experts in international arbitration and hone their skills before the main competition in Vienna.

The Moscow Pre-Moot consisted of a set of mock arbitration hearings, in which teams of students represented parties to an international sale of goods dispute before panels of experienced arbitration practitioners and scholars. This year the proceedings were governed by the CEPANI Rules and issues in dispute between the parties concerned, inter alia, applicability of the CISG, consolidation of claims and pathological arbitration clauses.

Nine Russian and foreign teams (both regular participants and newcomers) took part in the 5th Moscow Pre-moot: Ankara University, Belarusian State University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, MGIMO University, Moscow State Academy of Law, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Russian Academy of Justice and South Texas College of Law.

Experts from the Higher Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation, Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Russian School of Private Law, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, partners and lawyers from law firms Alrud, Baker Botts, Baker & McKenzie, BBH, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, Clifford Chance, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, Freshfields, Herbert Smith LLP, Ivanyan and Partners, Linklaters, Mannheimer Swartling, Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners, Morgan Lewis, Norton Rose, White & Case and in-house counsel from Rosneft, UBS, Yandex and MDM-bank acted as arbitrators. 

During 22nd and 23rd of March each team pleaded at least 4 times for both Claimant and Respondent. Based on the average scores received by individual participants, the team of South Texas College of Law won the Pre-moot. Team of Lomonosov Moscow State University finished 2nd, and team of Russian Academy of Justice – 3rd. The prizes were also awarded to the top three students for individual performance: 1st – Alvin Joel Santos (South Texas College of Law), 2nd – Yana Kovnatskaya (Lomonosov Moscow State University), 3rd – Polina Lomakina (Higher School of Economics).

The event would not be possible without the sponsor’s support. The Pre-moot organizers take this opportunity to thank White & Case (and personally David Goldberg, Jula Zagonek, Olga Pryanichnikova and Daria Shevchenko), Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (and personally Scott Senecal, Julia Solomachina and Yuri Babichev), Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners (and personally Yuri Monastyrsky), Morgan Lewis (and personally Jonathan Hines and Dmitry Ivanov) and Baker & Mckenzie (and personally Vladimir Khvalei) for their financial support and overall contribution.

RAA40 and Lomonosov Moscow State University are also grateful to the Pre-moot’s media partner – the Russian Law Journal (www.russianlawjournal.org).

Complex Arbitrations: Consolidation of Claims and Related Issues

On 21 March 2014 RAA40 and the Faculty of Law of Lomonosov Moscow State University co-organized the annual discussion preceding the 5th Moscow Pre-moot to Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot addressing one of the 21st Vis Moot topics “Complex Arbitrations: Consolidation of Claims and Related Issues”.

Julia Zagonek (Partner, White & Case) introduced the topic. She outlined the effects multi-party and multicontract transactions may have on arbitration. Julia focused on the issues specific to multi-party and multicontract disputes such as extension of arbitration agreement to non-signatories and parallel proceedings.

Julia explained that as early as at the drafting stage the parties to complex transactions should consider which procedural rules to choose as the approach to complex disputes may vary between jurisdictions and institutional rules. In particular, not every set of arbitral rules permits the tribunal to consolidate proceedings. She also emphasized that consolidation is not always the best way forward, since the parties can face such problems as finding arbitrators having the relevant expertise and acceptable to everyone, delays, cost increase and cost allocation, as well as the issues of privilege and confidentiality.

Vladimir Khvalei (Vice-President, ICC International Court of Arbitration; Partner, Baker & McKenzie) then addressed the issue of “multi” arbitration proceedings under the ICC Rules.

Vladimir reported that according to the ICC statistics from 2001 till 2009 more than two parties participated in at least 28.5 % of cases. He explained that an additional party could be joined in an ICC arbitration proceedings only if: (I) there is a request by one of the “existing parties” to the proceedings, (II) an additional party signed the arbitration agreement, (III) a claim is made against the additional party, and (IV) arbitrators have not yet been confirmed by claim is made against the additional party, and (V) arbitrators have not yet been confirmed by the ICC Court (the parties may agree to waive the latter condition).

After a short break Prof. Dirk De Meulemeester (Managing Partner, Lexlitis law firm) took the floor to address consolidation in arbitration. He began with an overview of the arbitral institutions’ rules and explained that while some of them vest on the tribunal wider discretion to order consolidation (e.g. ICC Rules 2012, CEPANI Rules 2013), others are silent on the matter (e.g. LCIA Rules, SIAC Rules).

He noted that consolidation has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it can be efficient as it allows to reduce legal resources, time and financial expenditures as well as to avoid conflicting awards. On the other hand, first, it can be difficult to enable all parties to participate in the nomination of an arbitrator and to distribute the costs fairly, and secondly, consolidation potentially may result in a violation of the party’s substantive rights, for example in cases where competitors are joined in one consolidated arbitration.

Finally, Prof. De Meulemeester explained that consolidation is feasible if disputes arise in connection with the same legal relationship, if they concern the same economic situation and if the arbitral agreements are compatible.

The discussion was closed with the presentation by Fredrik Ringquist (Senior Associate, Mannheimer Swartling) who discussed do’s and don’ts of drafting complex arbitration clauses.

<a href="http://www.vismoot.ru/moscow-pre-moot/gallery/discussion-complex-arbitrations/" style="color: #BD4339;" target="_blank">Discussion: Complex Arbitrations</a>


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5th Moscow Pre-Moot

### 3rd Moscow Pre-Moot

by Elena Eminova

<a href="https://modernarbitration.ru/uploads/Vismoot_Booklet_2012_f68e46934f.pdf" style="color: #BD4339" class="doc-link"><img src="https://modernarbitration.ru/uploads/pdf_icon_47961db3d7.svg" alt="pdf"/>Booklet 2012</a>

On 17-18 March 2012 the Law Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) hosted the Third Moscow Pre-Moot – the preliminary rounds for the 19th Willem C. Vis Commercial Arbitration Moot.

The preliminary rounds, also called pre-moots, are run annually prior to the Vienna Moot by the biggest law schools of the world (the University of Paris, Warsaw, Munich, Düsseldorf, Prague, New York, Hong Kong, etc.). In 2012 the MSU Law Faculty for the third time organized the biggest pre-moot in Europe, which proved to be very successful.

Taking part in pre-moots is a key to successful performance in Vienna, which is why teams from different countries are willing to participate. This year MSU was happy to welcome 14 teams. Among them were Russian teams: Russian Foreign Trade Academy (VAVT), Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Perm State University, Russian Academy of Justice (RAJ), Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, and Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU); as well as teams from foreign countries: Belarusian State University (Belarus), University of Frankfurt (Germany), Justus-Liebig University (Germany), Marmara University (Turkey), University of Bonn (Germany), University of Geneva (Switzerland), and University of Passau (Germany).

Practitioners, representatives of the academic and arbitration community and former participants were invited to arbitrate the Moscow Pre-Moot. Among them were representatives of the MSU Law Faculty, the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation, the Russian School of Private Law, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation; partners and lawyers from law firms Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners, Noerr LLP, White & Case LLP, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, Norton Rose, Herbert Smith LLP, Baker Botts LLP, Gorodissky and Partners, Clifford Chance LLP, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, LLP, Baker & McKenzie, CMS, FBK Legal, Nektorov, Saveliev and Partners; and lawyers from legal departments of UBS and Volvo.

More than 200 people took part in the Moscow Pre-Moot which demonstrates its growing popularity among students and lawyers from different countries.

The oral rounds were preceded by a discussion on Corruption Allegations in International Commercial Arbitration. The discussion was organized by Law Faculty especially for the participants of the Moscow Pre-Moot and considered the issues raised by the organizers of the Willem C. Vis Moot. The discussion took place on 16 March 2012 at the Moscow office of White & Case LLP. The guest speakers were the Vice-President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, partner at Baker & McKenzie Vladimir Khvalei, partner at White & Case David Goldberg, Professor Antonio Crivellaro from University of Padua, and a senior associate at Herbert Smith Francesca Albert. This event provided the participants with a unique opportunity to discuss with experts the issues of this year’s Willem C. Vis problem and strengthen their legal arguments.

During the following two days (17 and 18 March) each team pleaded in at least four rounds: twice as claimant and twice as respondent. The three top teams following the oral rounds were: 1st – the team of the University of Passau, 2nd – the team of Moscow State University, and 3rd –  the team of the University of Bonn. Awards were also presented to the three best oralists: 1st – Philipp Schwarz (the University of Passau), 2nd – Markus Lieberknecht (the University of Passau), and 3rd – Sergey Korolev (MGIMO). The best teams and oralists were selected on the basis of the average score in all rounds.

Organizing the Moscow Pre-Moot became possible by invaluable support of the Vice Dean for scientific work, Professor N.V. Kozlova and the members of the scientific department O.A. Lisitcina and S.A.  Aleksandrova. The Third Moscow Pre-Moot was held thanks to the enormous efforts of MSU team coaches: postgraduate student of the Civil Law Department of MSU Olesya Petrol and Candidate of Legal Science Aleksander Yagelnitskiy. They were assisted by the 1st year postgraduate student Yana Ivanova, 3rd year student Daria Levina, 4th year student Ays Lidzhanova, and MSU team members: Varvara Aryutina (4th year student), Sergey Avakyan (3rd year student), Elena Eminova (4th year student), Andrey Gromov (4th year student), and Bilya Lokova (5th year student).

The following students of MSU helped greatly at the Moscow Pre-Moot: Saglara Aduchinova, Igor Alenkin, Dmitriy Anishenko, Bogdan Gusev, Svetlana Elizarova, Sofia Koval, Margarita Makarova, Elena Manasyan, Maria Marycheva, Olga Narkaeva, Olga Nasonova, Ekaterina Neklyudova, Artur Rozenfeld, Natalya Sekretareva, Polina Secheneva, Ekaterina Soboleva, Nikolay Sokolov, Aleksandra Sofronova, Darya Filchenkova, Aleksey Khnalkov and Galina Shkarutina.

Successful organization of the Third Moscow Pre-Moot was made possible only thanks to the financial and organizational support from the MSU Law Faculty and the sponsors: law firms White & Case LLP (and personally Hermann Schmitt, Arina Stolyarova, Olga Pryanichnikova, and Polina Likhacheva) and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, LLP (and personally Scott Senecal and Yuri Babichev).

For Russian and foreign teams the Moscow Pre-Moot is a chance to prepare for their pleadings in Vienna, for instance, to identify the weaknesses in arguments and sharpen strong arguments, to improve presentation skills, to be convincing, and to deal with complicated questions from the arbitrators. The Moscow Pre-Moot, held in form of a moot court, is a unique ground for discussing the issues of the international commercial arbitration with Russian and foreign experts in this field and with students. Moreover, students who take part in the Moscow Pre-Moot have a great opportunity to meet (and impress!) potential employers.


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3rd Moscow Pre-Moot

### 2nd Moscow Pre-Moot

<a href="https://modernarbitration.ru/uploads/Vismoot_Booklet_2011_65a9f6eb51.pdf" style="color: #BD4339" class="doc-link"><img src="https://modernarbitration.ru/uploads/pdf_icon_47961db3d7.svg" alt="pdf"/>Booklet 2011</a>

The Second Moscow Pre-Moot to the 18th annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Moot took place on 25-27 March 2011. Last year we have already organized the first Moscow Pre-Moot where only Russian teams competed. This year we were lucky to welcome 9 teams from Russia, Belarus and Germany. It was our first experience of a truly international event.

During Moscow rounds 2011 over 30 lawyers took part as arbitrators. Among them we invited practitioners from leading international law firms, renowned scholars and representatives from arbitral institutions.

The Second Moscow Pre-Moot closely followed the format of Vienna hearings. We held general rounds and the finals.

Law faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University hosted general rounds during two days (25 and 26 March) and invited participants to have a nice lunch at the faculty’s cafe.

We scheduled three rounds per day. Two days of general rounds were filled with the atmosphere of competitiveness and cooperation and raced by so fast! Late in the evening of March, 26 organizers announced two teams who gained the largest amount of scores and passed for the finals! Host team of Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) and team of University of Cologne were qualified to the finals.

The Moscow office of White & Case LLC, which is located in the very heart of historical Moscow, has  provided a venue for the final round. The distinguished arbitrators presided over this pleading. Mr. Alexander Komarov, the former head of the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce of the Russian Federation (ICAC), acted as a President of the Tribunal. Mr. Vladimir Khvalei, partner and head of dispute resolution practice at Moscow office of “Baker and McKenzie” acted as co-arbitrator. Mr. Alexander Muranov, who is an arbitrator at the ICAC and the Maritime Arbitration Commission of the Chamber of Commerce of the Russian Federation, also was a co-arbitrator.  After the deliberations the Tribunal unanimously decided that the team from the University of Cologne won the Second Moscow Pre-Moot!

Following the tradition of Professor Eric Bergsten we also awarded individual oralists according to the scores of the general rounds. Yana Ivanova from Lomonosov Moscow State University was the third best oralist. Nina Melzer from the University of Cologne was the second best in the individual oratory ranking. Sarah Hachtmeister from the University of Marburg won the prize for the Best Individual Oralist of the Second Moscow Pre-Moot!

After the announcement and awards was done, we invited all the participants of the Moscow Pre-Moot to join a very nice fourchette at White & Case LLC.

We are particularly proud that some teams who participated at Moscow pre-moot were exceptionally successful Vienna! The team from the University of Cologne was qualified to the elimination rounds in Vienna. Also we admit that Nina Melzer, second best oralist of Moscow Pre-Moot, received honorable mention in the competition for the best individual oralist. The Russian team of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University) received honorable mention for their Memorandum on behalf of CLAIMANT and their Memorandum for RESPONDENT won the prize of The Third Best Memorandum.

The major part of organization of Moscow Pre-Moot was carried out by the coaches of MSU team – Ms. Olesya Petrol and Mr. Alexander Yagelnitskiy and also Ms. Mariam Ansari, the head organizer of the pre-moot. However this exciting event would never become possible without the generous support of our sponsors. We express our sincere gratitude to the White & Case LLC and law faculty of MSU.

The registration for the Third Moscow Pre-moot (17-18 March 2012) is already open!

Welcome! Do not miss your chance to visit Moscow in 2012!

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2nd Moscow Pre-Moot

### 1st Moscow Pre-Moot

by Yana Ivanova

On March 13, 2010, Law Faculty of MSU hosted the first pre-moot for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition.

Growing popularity of Vis-moot is evidenced in numbers. In 2010 the 17th Vis competition was attended by 228 law schools from 68 countries, comparing to 11 law schools from 9 countries at the first one in 1993.

The Vis-moot consists of two crucial phases: the writing of memorandums for claimant and respondent and the hearing of oral argument based upon the memorandums — both settled by arbitral experts in the issues considered. As for the pre-moots, they were not originally proposed by Vis-moot «founding fathers» and appeared highly spontaneously. Pre-moot is a «dress rehearsal» for the participants, which de jure does not affect the final result of the teams in Vienna. However, pre-moot network grew up and now includes Munich, Dusseldorf, Hanover, Paris, New York, San Diego, and in recent years had spread in the Eastern Europe — Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Belgrade. Leading law schools and reputable arbitration institutions open their doors to the pre-moot participants.

Pre-moot pleadings borrow the format of Vienna rounds. Oral arguments are followed by personal feedback for the Councils from the panel of arbitrators. During pre-moot participants have unique opportunity to practice the art of jus controversum, to improve existing legal positions and along with the criticism of the panel learn how to conduct a successful pleading. Subsequently, teams of those countries which, on a regular basis organize pre-moots and multiply participate in such events, occupy top positions in the rankings that make-up the competition. The brightest example, in this course, is Germany. German law schools traditionally demonstrate excellent results in the Vis moot and competing «on the edge» with native speakers — the British, Americans and Australians who have the natural linguistic advantage.

In 2010 Lomonosov Moscow State University, as the oldest national law school, provided a venue for the pre-moot. The ambitious idea for the first Russian pre-moot to be hosted at Lomonosov Moscow State University belongs to the MSU team coaches-2010, Olesya Petrol and Alexander Yagelnitskiy. The event consisted of four pleading rounds, so that each team managed to act as a council on behalf of Claimant and Respondent. All Russian teams took part in the pre-moot: Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Russian Academy of Justice (RAJ), St. Petersburg State University (SPSU), Higher School of Economics (HSE), and the host of the pre-moot — Moscow State University (MSU).

Through the exceptional efforts of Ms. Olesya Petrol, head organizer of Moscow Pre-Moot, MSU managed to gather truly qualified panels of arbitrators. Among the arbitrators there were eminent representatives of academia — Artem G. Karapetov and Mikhail L. Galperin. Also there were a number of practicing lawyers and former multiple participants of the Vis and other international moot courts: Ivan Chuprunov (Linklaters), Egor Chilikov (Sirota & Mosgo), Alexandr Yagelnitskiy, Olesya Petrol (Macleod Dixon), Kirill Udovichenko (Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners), Dmitry Dyakin (Magisters), Lev Soloviev (Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton), Alexander Vaneev (Magisters); Francesca Albert (Herbert Smith) and Richard Chlup (Mannheimer Swartling). It is noteworthy to mention that in 2010, during the pleadings in Vienna, Russia was represented by five lawyers who were to act as arbitrators. Moscow pre-moot had a pleasure to invite two of them to preside over the rounds: lecturer of international private law and civil law at MGIMO, Andrey Loboda and a graduate of the Law Faculty of MSU, Andrey Panov.

For most Russian teams Moscow pre-moot was the only opportunity to «rehear» Vienna pleadings, to «reveal» value of the arguments during the oral presentation before the Tribunal and get the «secret» of how to be persuasive. That is why pre-moot contributed very much to the teams’ preparation for international rounds.

We hope that in 2011 Moscow pre-moot will expand geographically and we look forward to seeing representatives of European, Asian and American law schools at Lomonosov Moscow State University in March 2011. Welcome!


13th Moscow Pre-Moot

11-13 March 2022

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