Moot Competitions: The Ideal Training for International Arbitration Practice
Each year, American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL)’s Center on International Commercial Arbitration organizes two moot arbitration competitions. The reason of the Center’s commitment to moot competitions is that they have shown to be an ideal way for students to practice, train, and demonstrate litigation and oral advocacy skills. Many practitioners, partners at law firms, and professors recognize that moot competitions are an ideal tool to practice litigation skills such as those needed to succeed in international arbitration.
One of these competitions is the International Investment Moot Arbitration Competition, which is held in Spanish in Washington, D.C. every two years and is geared towards graduate students. Every other year this competition is hosted by the Center’s partner institution Universidad Externado de Colombia. This investment moot arbitration competition promotes the study of international investment law and arbitration as its preferred dispute resolution mechanism. The seventh edition of this competition took place between May 18 and 21, 2020. The event was originally scheduled for the week of March 16, but due to the pandemic it was postponed to May and held virtually.
Eleven teams accepted the challenge of presenting their arguments in virtual hearings held through online videoconferencing technologies. More than thirty volunteer arbitrators participated and judged the rounds, thereby creating unique opportunities to learn from each other. It was easier than expected to hold the oral rounds virtually, even during the final round with over 110 attendees. The final round was judged by a panel of three international arbitrators: Claudia Frutos-Peterson, Managing Partner at Curtis LLP in Washington, D.C.; Gonzalo Stampa, Partner at Stampa Abogados in Madrid; and Ignacio Torterola, Partner at GST, LLP in Washington, D.C. This diverse panel with prominent practitioners from diverse backgrounds offered a realistic insight into real-world arbitrations in investment cases, which typically are decided by arbitrators coming from various continents and who are either civil or common law-trained.
The competition is co-organized with the Latin American Arbitration Association (ALARB), the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce of Bogota (CAM/CCBC), and the Externado University of Colombia, School of Law. Sponsors include the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and TDM. Sponsor law firms included: Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP; Montezuma Abogados; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP; and Three Crowns LLP.
The second competition is held annually in English and is aimed at LL.M. students, but due to the complications caused by the pandemic this year’s edition was suspended.
The second moot competition that the Center has established is the LL.M. International Commercial Arbitration and Investment Moot Competition (LL.M. moot competition) in 2012 to provide post-graduate students (most of whom are licensed to practice law and excluded from participating in most moot competitions) with the opportunity to develop their arbitration skills.
The competition focuses primarily on oral advocacy before a panel of arbitration experts. Participants are required to submit a brief argument outline instead of a full-fledged written memorandum.
The Competition alternates every year between an international commercial dispute and a dispute arising out of an Investment Protection Law or BIT Provision. The event takes place in Washington, D.C. every spring in either March or April and allows students starting their LL.M. studies the year before (in August) the opportunity to take arbitration courses and familiarize themselves with the problem, which is published between September 15 and 30 each year.
Since the first edition in 2012, this event has attracted teams from a large number of LL.M. Programs in the U.S. While universities from abroad are encouraged to participate, so far the only institution that has consistently sent a team from outside the U.S. is the Haramaya University College of Law from Ethiopia. The number of participating teams each year ranges between 15 and 20.