About the Vis Moot:
The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot (Vis Moot) is a moot court competition in the fields of international commercial law and arbitration law, which was first held in 1994 and has proven to be a great success in promoting the study of the 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (known as the “CISG”).
Over the course of six months, the more than 370 participating teams work on a case that deals with the most discussed topics of both international commercial and arbitration law. The moot court is divided in a written phase, where the mooties prepare written submissions on behalf of both claimant and respondent, and an oral phase, where the students have the opportunity to plead their case orally before an arbitral tribunal.
The Vis Moot final rounds are held annually in Viena, and are preceded by several pre-moots throughout Europe, that allow the mooties to improve their oral arguments and prepare their strategy for the final stage of the competition.
The Vis Moot is a great challenge that allows students to deepen their legal knowledge and to develop soft skills that are highly valued in the job market. In particular, it allows students to explore contract law through the study of the CISG and learn more about arbitration law, to improve their legal reasoning in a highly competitive environment, to improve their writing and speaking skills and, finally, to develop their legal English.
In addition to the educational side, the moot has also a very important social component, being a unique experience to meet students from all over the world and to contact with some of the most important professionals in the field of international commercial arbitration.
The FDUL team’s participation in the Vis Moot is organized jointly by the Faculty and the Research Centre for Private Law (known as “CIDP”), with the support of VdA, Vieira de Almeida Sociedade de Advogados, and under the Scientific Coordenation of Professor José Ferreira Gomes.
Useful information about the moot: https://www.vismoot.org/
Previous participations in the Vis Moot:
2023/2024:
Joana Leite, Lourenço Batista, Maria Arzileiro de Carvalho e Lourenço Batista.
In Vienna, the team qualified for the elimination rounds, coming 48th in the general rounds and being awarded with an honourable mention for the Eric E. Bergsten Award, given to the best teams in the general rounds of the competition. The team was also the winner of the VI Lisbon Pre-Moot, where it also received the Best Claimant award, and was the third classified in the XVI Prague Pre-Moot.
2022/2023:
António Cortês, Isabel Forero, Ricardo Lourenço e Rui Pires.
In Viena, the team qualified for the elimination rounds, coming 43rd in the general rounds and being awarded with an honourable mention for the Eric E. Bergsten Award, given to the best teams in the general rounds of the competition. The team also won the Best Respondent award at the V Lisbon Pre Moot.
2021/2022:
Juliana Bocchi Trivoli, Gonçalo Vilela, Gonçalo Maia, Luísa Silva Agapito, Francisco Menezes, Madalena Dewerbe.
The team took part in the Vis Moot general rounds in Vienna and came sixth in the Belgrade Pre-Moot.
2020-2021:
Inês Bastos, Tomás Rebelo, Diogo Canário, Rita Santos e Rodrigo Salton.
In Vienna, the team qualified for the elimination rounds, coming 2nd in the general rounds and being awarded with an honourable mention for the Eric E. Bergsten Award, given to the best teams in the general rounds of the competition. Student Rita Santos also won an honourable mention for the Martin Domke Award, given to the best oralists of the competition. The team was also a finalist in the CAM-CCBC Brazil Pre-Moot, with Rita Santos being awarded as the best oralist of the pre-moot.
2019/2020:
Carolina Nagy Correia, José Maria Cortes, Mónica Almeida e Luís Possolo.
The team took part in the general round in Vienna and won the Madrid Pre-Moot. At the Madrid Pre-Moot the team also won the Best Respondent award, with José Maria Cortes being awarded as the best oralist of the pre-moot.
2018/2019:
Beatriz Vitorino, Filipe Gomes, Rita Rocha e Catarina Coelho.
The team took part in the general rounds in Vienna and won the III Lisbon Pre-Moot.
2017/2017:
José Maria Gonçalves Pereira, Diogo Zambujo, António Pestana Araújo e Jaime Reis.
The team took part in the general rounds in Vienna.
2016/2017:
Marta Boura, Inês Drago Madeira, Leonor Cautela, Ana Ruiz.
The team took part in the general rounds in Vienna.
Francisco Cordeiro Ferreira, David Rodrigues and Miguel Mota Delgado, students of the University of Lisbon School of Law were awarded, on November 24, 2014, in the IV Portuguese International Law Moot Court.