RGU law students attend international moot in Vienna

Law students at Robert Gordon University (RGU) have taken part in one of the world’s most prestigious international moot competitions.
The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, which takes place annually in Vienna, this year saw participation from 342 universities from 76 countries.

The early stages of the event began several months in advance with a team of 11 students, based around the world in Aberdeen, Netherlands, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam working on the written submissions for the moot. The group came from a diversity of law courses and ranged from undergraduates to PhD students both on campus and online.

They took part in online moots with students from Switzerland and the US as well as a pre-moot event in Edinburgh before four members of the team, Roy Janho, Jennifer Lambart, Annabelle Macpherson and Saf Benaskar travelled to Vienna for the final oral rounds.

The team was financially supported by the Law School and the RGU Foundation.

Dr Andrey Kotelnikov, a lecturer at RGU’s Law School and team coach, said: “The students were competing against some of the best law schools in the world which gave them a fantastic opportunity to vastly improve their written and oral advocacy skills and to become part of a global community of lawyers specialising in arbitration and international trade law.

“They didn’t win the final event but witnessing the way they worked together as a team throughout the process, the level of intelligence and knowledge and the incredible enthusiasm and dedication they displayed was reward enough.”

Ms Macpherson added: “The competition has given me an excellent opportunity to compete against outstanding universities from around the world, giving me an insight into commercial arbitration and networking with globally ambitious students.”

Mr Janho said: “This was a wonderful six-month long journey with practitioners, professors and students coming together in Vienna to create an invaluable experience in international commercial arbitration. Huge thanks go to Dr Kotelnikov and everyone else involved.”