Duke Law made an impressive showing in the in the 20th Willem C. Vis Moot Arbitration Competition that wrapped up in Vienna on March 28. In a competition featuring 296 teams from all over the world, 3Ls Alex Bluebond, Ian Hampton, Chris Jones, and 2L Edward Bersuder made it to the Round of 16, when they were eliminated by a team from Singapore. Bluebond and Hampton received honorable mentions as “Best Oralists.”
Ariell Friedman ’14 and LLM candidate Katharina Riedl also are members of the Duke Law team.
Many of the world’s leading arbitrators and experts on arbitration serve as panelists for the Vis competition, which is held in conjunction with international arbitration meetings in Vienna. The Vienna-bound students prepared for the international competition with practice moots in Washington D.C., and by video with the team from the City University of Hong Kong, winners of the 2013 Vis tournament. They were accompanied to Vienna by their coaches, Senior Lecturing Fellow Charles Holton ’73, a partner at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice who teaches Arbitration Law and Practice at Duke, and Jennifer Maher, associate dean for International Studies.
The goal of the Vis competition is to foster the study of international commercial law and arbitration for resolution of international business disputes through its application to a concrete problem of a client and to train students in methods of alternative dispute resolution. When possible, tournament organizers pair teams from civil law schools with teams from common law schools in the general rounds of competition in order to foster exchange between individuals trained in different legal cultures.
Duke Law alumni in Vienna alumni welcomed the team and admitted LLM students at a March 25 reception.