News Archive
IU McKinney Team Competes in Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition
04/17/2015
A team of four students from IU McKinney traveled to Vienna, Austria, to compete in the 22nd Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. Competition began March 28 and concluded April 1.
It was the third consecutive year for a team from McKinney to take part in the event, which draws around 3,000 competitors from roughly 300 law schools around the world.
(The photo shows the four competitors at a train station in Vienna. From left are Jake Kolisek, Blake Dedas, Tim Dunn, and Patrick Jones.)
The IU McKinney competitors were Tim Dunn, Blake Dedas, Jake Kolisek, and Pat Jones. Other law students who took part and made the trip to Vienna were John Miller, Victoria Hedin, and Brittany Mak.
The competition begins with a writing portion that requires participants to analyze a set of facts, determine what law is applicable, and who has jurisdiction over the case. Each team then prepares a claimant and respondent brief, addressing both sides of the argument.
While the McKinney team didn’t make it into the final round of 64 teams, “the four rounds we did compete in were great learning experiences and opportunities to meet interesting law students and arbitrators from around the world,” Dedas said. The McKinney team competed against the University of Ljubljana, the Russian Academy of Justice, University of Toulouse, and the University of IE Madrid.
“The overall experience is hard to describe,” Dedas said. “Between the time of the opening and closing ceremonies, the competition, and the networking events, I've made friends with law students from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, England, Scotland, Denmark, Holland, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Russia, China, and Japan. The opportunity to network and get a global perspective on the practice of law is unprecedented. There were so many opportunities to gain valuable insights into foreign opinions on law, politics, global incidents, and media coverage.”
Dunn also appreciated the experience, which he said is unique for law students. "We gained first-hand, practical experience on an international stage while being judged by the brightest international legal minds in the fields of international commerce and arbitration," he said. "I feel confident the experience has prepared me for future practice and has allowed me to expand my legal professional network across borders."
