Students Competing in Vienna Vis Moot Court
03/04/2016
A formidable team of IU McKinney Law students from the J.D. and LL.M. programs will participate in the oral arguments of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration competition on March 19 and 24 in Vienna, Austria.
The law students who will compete with teams from across the globe include: John Miller, captain, 3L; Victoria Hedin, 3L; Yomna Semary, LL.M., from Egypt; and Brenda Kpotufe, 3L, originally from Togo. Backing them up are McKinney’s team of researchers: Addison Koester, 2L; Katie Rice, 2L; Amy Dunn, 2L; and Suvd Tuul, LL.M., from Mongolia.
Professor Frank Emmert served as faculty advisor to the team, along with a powerhouse of other coaches that include attorneys and former team members such as Tim Dunn, former captain of the team, and a joint JD/MBA student; Jessica Whelan, an Associate at Bingham Greenebaum Doll; Mike Blackwell, former team member; Moustafa Alameldin, an LL.M. student; and Matt Snyder.
Miller explains the background and composition of McKinney’s competing team: “This year we wanted to build on the success and goals of previous McKinney Vis teams. Our team this year is extremely diverse which gives us an advantage in an international competition. We have team members from four different countries and almost all of the team members are bilingual if not trilingual. We also have amazingly devoted coaches and a tremendous sponsor in Bingham Greenebaum Doll.”
“Throughout the entire year we work on the written submission stage of our competition,” Miller says. “Competitors and researchers are constantly digging for the ‘hard-to-find’ arbitration case-law, to support the challenging topics from the problem. Since the beginning of the spring semester we have been pre-mooting extensively, with ourselves, other schools in the area, and teams from abroad. The competition will culminate soon in the Oral Rounds held in Vienna, Austria.”
Miller continues, “The McKinney Vis team is becoming a serious draw for people attending our law school. We are the only school in Indiana that fields a Vis team and we are very competitive abroad. Out of the over 300 teams that participate, only 64 move on past the preliminary rounds. It is the avowed goal, rallying call, and hashtag of the team to enter this round of 64, something McKinney Vis has yet to do in its young but reputable history.”
Addison Koester, a 2L JD, and an Indianapolis native, remarks: “I love being part of the team because I am allowed to see a practical problem and work together in unison with the other team members to accomplish the big picture goal of putting together a great argument in favor of our client.”
The Vis Arbitral Moot aims “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 law leaders of tomorrow in methods of alternative dispute resolution.”
Photo: Victoria Hedin, John Miller, Yomna Semary, Brenda Kpotufe
