ABSTRACT
The TC Beirne School of Law of the University of Queensland participated in the prestigious Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, the orals of which were held in Vienna between 21-28 March 2002. In the general round, our team defeated the University of Athens, Greece; the University of Fribourg, Switzerland; Xiamen University, People’s Republic of China, and the University of the Americas, Mexico. In the octo-final, our students defeated the University of Potsdam, Germany. This was followed by a win in the quarterfinal against the University of Muenster, Germany. In the semi-final, Queensland triumphed over the University of Zagreb, Croatia. The TC Beirne School of Law team proceeded to the Grand Final, which was held in the Rathaus (City Hall) of Vienna. In a closely contested final, the arbitral panel awarded the Moot to the University of Singapore. However, the members of the panel described the performance of the T C Beirne School of Law team as ‘brilliant’ and our two speakers, Marion Isobel and Ryan Goss, were given a standing ovation. In addition, our team also won the prestigious Pieter Sanders Award for Best Memorandum for the Claimant (First Prize). This is a stunning achievement in view of the fact that 108 teams representing 36 countries participated in the Moot and prepared a Memorandum for the Claimant. Also, Marion Isobel obtained the Martin Domke Award, first prize, best oralist and her colleague, Ryan Goss, received an honourable mention as best oralist. Finally, our Memorandum for the Respondent was also awarded an Honourable Mention, which means that it was in the top ten best memoranda of the entire Moot.
