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CUHK LAW wins the 17th Willem C. Vis East International Commercial Arbitration Moot

Posted on 1 April, 2020

Congratulations to the CUHK LAW team on winning the championship of the 17th Willem C. Vis East International Commercial Arbitration Moot!

This year the Vis East Moot was held virtually from 22-29 March 2020. A total of 71 schools from 21 jurisdictions in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America, including top law schools from Harvard University, University College London, University of Basel and Tsinghua University participated. To get to the final the CUHK LAW team mooted against teams from Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. The final was argued before a distinguished panel of international arbitration practitioners, including Ms. Paula HODGES QC, President of the London Court of International Arbitration, United Kingdom; Dr. Sabine STRICKER-KELLERER, an international lawyer and arbitrator from Germany; and Ms. Winnie TAM SC, JP, Senior Counsel of the Hong Kong Bar and former Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association (2015-2017). The CUHK LAW team prevailed against the University of Sao Paulo Largo San Francisco from Brazil in the final round and won the moot championship. In addition, team member FAN Yin Cheung Kasper was awarded an individual award of an honourable mention (top 10%) for his advocacy.

The winning team consisted of CUHK LAW students: CHOI Ho Yin (LLB), FAN Yin Cheung Kasper (LLB), GONG Runtong (PCLL), LAI Wing Sum Winsome (LLB), LAM Ka Long Patrick (LLB), LEUNG Ching Hang Christie (LLB), LI Yunyi Lucy (JD), LIU Tsz Yat (LLB), LOO Fai Yang Ferdinand (PCLL), LUI Kiu Yu Donald (JD) and WONG Lap Yan Michelle (JD). The team was coached by Prof. Peter RHODES and supported by student coaches CHAN Chun Hei Alex (PCLL), HO Ngai Sum Esther (PCLL) and LEE Yu Tung Sharon (LLB), who were former Vis East Moot team members.

The team thanked Mr. Paul MITCHARD QC, Director of Career Planning and Professionalism at CUHK LAW, who helped in its preparation for the oral rounds of the competition and shared his experience as legal counsel in arbitrations and as an arbitrator. The team also thanked the Dean and the Faculty for their support, which played an important part in its success.

Related news:
Secretary for Justice of the HKSAR mentioned CUHK LAW team success in her blog post
Global Arbitration Review
CUHK Press Release
Sing Tao Daily