Goal of the Vis Arbitral Moot. The goal of the Vis Arbitral Moot 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 law leaders of tomorrow in methods of alternative dispute resolution.

Structure of the Moot. The business community's marked preference for resolving international commercial disputes by arbitration is the reason this method of dispute resolution was selected as the clinical tool to train law students through two crucial phases: the writing of memorandums for claimant and respondent and the hearing of oral argument based upon the memorandums -- both settled by arbitral experts in the issues considered. The forensic and written exercises require determining questions of contract -- flowing from a transaction relating to the sale or purchase of goods under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and other uniform international commercial law -- in the context of an arbitration of a dispute under specified Arbitration Rules.

In the pairings of teams for each general round of the forensic and written exercises, every effort is made to have civil law schools argue against common law schools -- so each may learn from approaches taken by persons trained in another legal culture. Similarly, the teams of arbitrators judging each round are from both common law and civil law backgrounds.

Organization and Sponsors of the Moot The Moot is organized by the Association for the Organization and Promotion of the William C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. Pace University is a founding member of the Association. The Moot is sponsored by the American Arbitration Association, the International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Chamber of National and International Arbitration of Milan, Chicago International Dispute Resolution Association, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Court of International Commercial Arbitration, Romania, German Institution of Arbitration (DIS), the International Chamber of Commerce, JAMS, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Moot Alumni Association, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA), Swiss Chambers' Court of Arbitration and Mediation, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, and the University of Vienna Faculty of Law.

The Vis Moot (East) is a sister moot to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot that takes place in Hong Kong. The Vis Moot (East) uses the same Problem and the rules are essentially the same as the Moot that takes place in Vienna. Nevertheless, they are two separate moots with separate registration, including registration fee, and separate winners. The Hong Kong Moot is not a regional elimination moot for the Vienna Moot. A law school can register for the Hong Kong Moot, the Vienna Moot or both. While the same students can be on both teams, a given student cannot argue in both the Hong Kong and the Vienna Moot in the same year. Those interested in the Vis Moot (East) should visit its web site, http://www.cisgmoot.org/.