The fifth Ukrainian rounds of Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot were held in Kyiv on 22-23 February 2020.
The event was sponsored and organized by Vasil Kisil & Partners with support from the International Commercial Arbitration Court (ICAC) at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI), Ukrainian Arbitration Association, and Sayenko Kharenko Law Firm.
Over five years, the number of teams has more than doubled, with the number of international participants increasing year on year. This year’s participants included nine teams from leading universities in Ukraine, Germany, Latvia, and Poland, such as the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Lazarski University (Poland), Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, University of Latvia (Latvia), Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany).
Based on the competition results, the team of the Lazarski University (Poland) won the competition and was named the “Best Team,” while Vitalii Kosovych, student of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, was awarded the “Best Speaker” award.
Oleg Alyoshin, Partner and Head of International Arbitration practice at Vasil Kisil & Partners, said, "We have been holding the Vis Pre-Moot in Ukraine for half a decade and are happy to note that future lawyers are increasingly interested in this competition each year as more and more Ukrainian and international teams join us. The Ukrainian rounds of Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is a considerable investment in the development of our future international commercial arbitration as today's competitors will very soon be employed with the leading law firms both in Ukraine and abroad since they meet already the high standards of professional knowledge and skills."
The Vis Moot is aimed at promoting professional training of law students to international commercial law and arbitration. By participating in the Ukrainian Vis Pre-Moot, students from various universities were afforded an opportunity to present their arguments on the case to the leading legal practitioners and receive valuable advice for their further participation in international events. Similar competitions are held in 100 countries and attended by almost 300 teams.