Vienna: Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration co-sponsors international commercial arbitration “marathon”

Vienna: Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration co-sponsors international commercial arbitration “marathon”

Published Date: 24/04/2019

 

The Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration participated in launching the biggest international competition in commercial arbitration, the Willem C. Vis Moot. The 26th annual Vis Moot began recently in the Austrian capital, Vienna, with 379 competing teams from 372 universities representing 70 countries. More than 3,000 people attended from around the world.

SCCA was an official sponsor of this international “marathon,” which is held annually at the prestigious University of Vienna. The Vis Moot hosts hundreds of competing teams from various international universities, including Harvard, Oxford, and the Sorbonne, in addition to the most prominent international law firms and arbitration centers.

This year’s competition includes more than 2,400 students, 1,000 supervisors and arbitrators, and 372 universities, among them four Saudi universities: Saudi Electronic University, Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, Dar Al-Hekma University in Jeddah, and Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University in Dammam.

Each competing team has four to six members, who work together over the course of a full week to resolve a hypothetical commercial dispute that serves as the focal point of the competition each year. The competition proceeds through rounds of oral and written arguments, then through a series of elimination rounds culminating in the selection of the winning teams by a judging panel of top international lawyers and counselors.

The objective of the Willem C. Vis Moot is to empower law students in the alternative resolution of commercial disputes by giving a practical dimension to their academic studies, linking those studies to realistic, tangible commercial problems.

While taking part in opening competition in Vienna, Dr. Hamed Merah, CEO of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration, said that SCCA sponsored the Willem C. Vis Moot because it wants to make an effective contribution to building the foundations of an institutional arbitration industry locally, regionally, and internationally, and to support the Saudi teams participating in the largest international commercial arbitration marathon anywhere in the world. It also affirms SCCA’s national status as the Kingdom’s official representative in international forums and events related to this industry.

Dr. Merah added that the start of the Willem C. Vis Moot in Vienna coincided with SCCA’s launch of a student commercial arbitration competition in the Kingdom at the beginning of April. The local competition is an extension of its international version and an opportunity for Arabic-speaking law students from Saudi Arabia and abroad to experience the practical dimension to their theoretical studies by participating in commercial arbitration sessions on hypothetical disputes based on the actual local business environment. Further details can be found at the competition page on SCCA’s official website (www.ArabicMoot.sadr.org).