April 14, 2009
Tulane Law School is pleased to announce that its international moot court team, the Vienna Vis, advanced to the quarterfinals at the sixteenth Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot competition held in Vienna, Austria, April 3 – 9, 2009. In the end, the team finished in the top eight of a total 233 teams competing and was the only American team to advance to the quarterfinal level.
The law school extends international accolades to Vienna Vis team members Daisy Gurdian, Jessica Marrero, Melissa Marsh and Elizabeth Varner, and Hong Kong Vis team members Veronica Lam and Brian McGarry, who received honorable mentions for “Best Claimant’s Brief” and “Best Respondent’s Brief”. Both Guardian and Marsh received honorable mentions for “Best Oralist” (awarded to only 40 of 500 competitors).
“The end result is amazing no matter how you look at it,” Demelza Baer, (outgoing) chief justice of the Tulane Moot Court program, said. “Of course, it helps tremendously to have two preeminent scholars in commercial arbitration, among other fields, who are excited to work closely with the team,”
Tulane Law School equally applauses professors Robert Force and Martin Davies for serving as faculty advisors, as well as student coaches Cathy LeBlanc and Lindsay Sakal.
“This unprecedented success reflects well on our school, the Moot Court, and especially the team,” said SBA President Melissa Swabacker. “The Vis team’s success will surely be a step towards increasing our name recognition once more.”
The goal of the Vis Arbitral Moot 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 law leaders of tomorrow in methods of alternative dispute resolution.