Willem C. Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot

SMU reached the final round of the 12^th annual Willem C. Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot held on Sunday, 22 March 2015, and won it, after nine rounds of intense competition.  This is SMU’s first Vis (East) championship title since the SMU School of Law sent its first team in 2010.  It is also SMU’s 12^th overall international moot championship title since inception.

Organised by the Vis East Moot Foundation Limited, the moot competition is a sister moot to the one held in Vienna – the Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, to which SMU is also sending a team.  The Vis (East) is intended to stimulate the study of international commercial law, especially the legal texts prepared by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and the use of international commercial arbitration to resolve international commercial disputes. The international nature of the Moot leads participants to interpret the texts of international commercial law in light of different legal systems, and develops in them an expertise in advocating a position before an arbitral panel composed of arbitrators from different legal systems.

Hailed as the world's third largest international moot competition after the Philip C. Jessup and Vis moots, the Vis (East), held in Hong Kong SAR, saw a record turnout this year with 109 teams participating.  SMU has had some success in the past, winning the oralist and memorial prizes for both Vis moots, but has not previously advanced this far for oral arguments.  In fact, this is only the second time that a Singapore team has reached the final for either Vis moots.

This year, SMU sent a combined Vis / Vis (East) team of eight, with four members – Eden Li (year 4), Jason Lim (JD), Nicolette Oon (year 3), and Jerald Soon (year 4) – being deployed to Hong Kong for the Vis (East) moot.  The combined team was jointly coached by Lionel Leo (WongP partner), as well as SMU international moot alumni Shaun Pereira and Deya Shankar Dubey.

The intense competition began in the preliminary rounds, where SMU faced Wuhan University (China), Waseda University (Japan), former Vis winner Monash Law School (Australia), and Symbiosis Law School (India).  The team then met former Vis (East) winner Tsinghua University (China) in Round of 32, National Chiao Tung (Taiwan) in the octofinal, University of Denver (USA) in the quarterfinal, and former Vis winner West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (India) in the semifinal, before facing off against Arizona State University (USA) in the final, and winning the title.

Price Media Law Moot Competition

[Photo: Assistant Professor Chen Siyuan (centre) with (from L-R) Beatrice Yeo, Fiona Chew, Li Kun Hang, Geraldine Kuah, Jacob Quek and Kenneth Lim, at Oxford University, UK.]

Over the last weekend, another SMU moot team was in UK to do us proud.  Fiona Chew (year 4), Li Kun Hang (year 4), Kenneth Lim (year 4), Geraldine Kuah (Juris Doctor), Quek Teck Liang Jacob (year 4) and Beatrice Yeo (year 4) represented the University in the eighth edition of the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition, which saw the top 40 teams, out of a pool of 90 worldwide, qualify for the international rounds in Oxford University.

This year's moot problem featured issues of treaty validity, religious hate speech, and intermediary liability, and judges included prominent practitioners in the field, such as Harjinder Obhi (Google UK Legal Director) and Michael Wiener (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights).

Following matches against the top three American Regional Rounds teams that would also go on to win the Best Memo prizes – Florida State International University College of Law, 2013 finalist Regent School of Law, and 2014 semifinalist Brooklyn Law School, SMU qualified for the knockout stages.  There, it beat Cairo University (Egypt) in the octofinal, Ghent University (Belgium) in the quarterfinal, and National Law University, Jodhpur (India) in the semifinal before meeting University of the Philippines in the competitive final round.

The SMU team eventually finished first runner-up.  Four members – Fiona, Kun Hang, Kenneth and Geraldine – were ranked in the top 10 per cent for Best Oralist, while the team's memorials were also ranked in the top 5 for Best Memorial.  This was the second time that SMU has reached the final round of the competition, the first was in 2010, when SMU won the championship title.

The team, coached by Assistant Professor Chen Siyuan with assistance from alumnus, Sui Yi Siong, expressed their gratitude to many faculty members who helped to judge practice rounds.  This year the team also had the privilege of being judged by Senior Counsel – namely Senior Minister of State Indranee Rajah and Mr Thio Shen Yi.

SMU’s moot teams have achieved remarkable results since the start of this academic year, reaching six international moot championship finals since August 2014.  We wish our teams all the best in the forthcoming Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Philip C. Jessup Moot, and International Criminal Court Moot, which will be taking place in the coming month!

[Featured photo: Jason Lim (far left), Eden Li (2^nd from left), Jerald Soon (2^nd from right), Nicolette Oon (far right), with one of the judges of the Vis (East) moot competition.]