Willem C. Vis Moot

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is the world's leading law school competition fostering the study of international commercial law and international commercial arbitration. The competition is named after Willem C. Vis, Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) at the time of promulgation of the Vienna Convention, Professor at Pace University School of Law and the parent of the Moot Court idea. The Moot is organized by the Association for the Organization and Promotion of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. The Director is Eric E. Bergsten, Professor Emeritus of Pace University School of Law and a former Secretary of the UNCITRAL.

Each problem of the Vis Moot falls under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the procedural questions are settled by arbitration in a country that has enacted UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and is a party to the UN Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (1958).  The arbitral rules applied rotate yearly among the arbitration rules of co-sponsors of the Moot.

The Moot consists of two parts: preparation of memoranda in support of the Claimant's and subsequently the Respondent's position and the hearing of oral arguments based upon the memoranda. Oral pleadings take place in Vienna, before high-calibre arbitration panels in the environment of a serious intellectual and personal challenge.

The Moot is an exceptional educational, professional, social and cultural experience that brings legal education much close to legal practice, making the learning process informatively effective, challenging and interesting. Participation in the Vis Moot, not to mention the awards, is recognized and highly appreciated by international law firms and institutions throughout the world.

Tbilisi State University has been participating in the Vis Moot since 2007 (14^th Moot) by teams consisting of four to eight students of the Faculty of Law. TSU Vis Moot alumni are being successfully recruited by major companies and leading law firms of Georgia