PUBLISHED:April 21, 2014

Duke Law team has best-ever showing at Willem C. Vis Moot Arbitration Competition in Vienna

Duke Law made its best ever showing in the 21st Willem C. Vis Moot Arbitration Competition that wrapped up in Vienna on April 17.  In a competition featuring 254 teams from all over the world, 3Ls James Waters, Elyse Lyons, and Nina Gupta and 2L Jennifer Lin made it to the semifinal round, where they were eliminated by an Australian team from Deakin University, which went on to win the competition.

LLM candidate Noemie Rouillard assisted the team in writing briefs for the competition. The students were accompanied to Vienna by their coach, Senior Lecturing Fellow Charles Holton ’73, a partner at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice who teaches Arbitration Law and Practice and who also serves as an arbitrator for the competition.

Many of the world’s leading arbitrators and experts on arbitration serve as panelists for the Vis competition, which is held in conjunction with international arbitration meetings in Vienna. The goal of the Vis competition is to foster the study of international commercial law and arbitration for resolution of international business disputes through its application to a concrete problem of a client and to train students in methods of alternative dispute resolution.  When possible, tournament organizers pair teams from civil law schools with teams from common law schools in the general rounds of competition in order to foster exchange between individuals trained in different legal cultures.

The Duke Law team prepared for the international competition with practice moots with several other teams in Washington D.C., and by video with teams from Hong Kong, Reykjavik, and Costa Rica.

Duke Law alumni in Vienna alumni welcomed the team and admitted LLM students at an April 15 reception and dinner.