Vis Moot
Competition F.A.Q.
Q. What makes the Vis different from other moot court opportunities, such as the Jessup, available to Loyola students?
A. There are a number of differences. First, a student need not take Appellate Advocacy or compete in the Scott Moot Court competition to be eligible to be on the Vis Team. Second, the Vis is truly an international competition. It involves international law (as does the Jessup) and the entire competition takes place in Vienna -- the home of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), one of the sponsors of the Vis Moot. The Loyola team will compete against teams from four other countries -- usually "civil law" countries -- in the preliminary rounds in a mock arbitration conducted by a panel of arbitrators, at least two of whom will be from other countries.
Q. How does the administration of the Vis team differ, if at all, from the administration of the teams fielded by the Scott Moot Court Honors Program (the "Scott Teams")?
A. The Scott Teams, e.g. the National Moot Court Team and the Jessup Moot Court Team, are selected through the Scott Moot Court Competition. Members of those teams are part of the Scott Board, and the teams are administered by the Scott Board. It is essentially a student-run organization, with faculty advisors and coaches. The Vis team, however, is administered by Professors Hull and McDermott who select the team and set forth the curriculum for the program. They also determine whether the students who participate have done the necessary work to earn the 3 units of credit. Students who wish to participate in the Vis team should really consider it to be like a skills course, graded on a pass/no pass basis, with Professors Hull and McDermott as the instructors. It is not a student run organization.
Q. Is there a regional elimination round to determine which teams compete in Vienna?
A. No, all competition takes place in Vienna -- there are no "qualifying rounds" although we have had informal "scrimmages" with other US and Mexican teams in the past.
Q. What language is used in the competition?
A. English -- for both the written and oral portions of the competition.
Q. Doesn't that give native English speakers an overwhelming advantage in the competition?
A. Not to the extent one might expect. Most of the members of the European teams -- especially the German teams -- speak perfect English. In fact nearly all of the winners of the award for Best Oral Advocate have been Europeans. And the Europeans frequently "sweep" the awards for best-written memoranda.
Q. Who are the "teams to beat?'
A. In the oral portion of the competition, the German and Australian teams -- especially Munster & Cologne and Queensland & Deakin -- typically provide the toughest competition. With respect to the written memoranda, Basel, Munster, Zagreb, Freiburg, Heidelberg, and Queensland consistently submit outstanding memoranda.
Q. How is an "arbitration" moot different from a moot "court?"
A. In the Vis competition, the two members of each team sit at a U-shaped table with the three arbitrators. The style is more conversational and the presiding arbitrator may conduct the arbitration issue by issue rather than allowing each side to fully present all their arguments.
Q. How many students are on a team?
A. There is no limit to the number of students on a team. Some teams have only two while others have a dozen or more.
Q. Do they all get to participate in the competition?
A. Two students represent each team in each arbitration. Since there are four preliminary rounds, a school could use up to eight students in the preliminary rounds, but most don't use more than 5 or 6; some only use their best two students in all rounds.
Q. How many will be on the Loyola team this year?
A. We will initially select four or five students for the team.
Q. Will they all actually get to participate in arbitrations in Vienna?
A. The coaches will decide after the extensive practice schedule which members of the team will actually participate in arbitrations in Vienna and how often. While there can be no guarantee that all students will actually participate in arbitrations in Vienna,it is quite likely that all members of the team will get to argue at least once.