11 avril 2012 – Zurich excels at the Willem C. Vis Arbitration Moot

As for the last 11 years, Walder Wyss supported the University of Zurich in preparing for the Willem C. Vis Arbitration Moot. The moot court is a student competition focussing on international sale of goods and arbitration. It is held once a year in Vienna since 19 years and has become the largest and most prominent arbitration event in the world. This year, 282 universities from 68 countries throughout the world sent about 2000 participants to Vienna to plead in oral arguments.

The week in Vienna is the highlight of a half year learning experience for all participants. Teams have to submit a memorandum for claimant and a memorandum for respondent before the oral arguments are held. The team comprised of Benjamin Aebi, Désirée Klingler, Matthias Leemann and Angelina Sgier excelled in this year’s competition. The University of Zurich won the Peter Sanders Award for the best memorandum for claimant (in a tie with the University of Harvard). The team in addition made it to the final knock out rounds in Vienna, beating 220 other universities and only finally lost to the University of Hannover in the round of 64. Angelina Sgier in addition made the 3^rd place for her individual oral performance in Vienna.

Walder Wyss is proud to have supported this tremendous achievement. Dr Philipp Habegger has a teaching assignment for this task at the University of Zurich and was assisted by Anna Masser. Besides Walder Wyss, Wenger & Vieli (Dr Urs Weber Stecher and Daniel Decurtins) and the chair of Prof Claire Huguenin (Benjamin Gottlieb) provide the coaches for the Zurich team.