Belgrade Open Pre-moot

University of Belgrade Faculty of Law had the honor of hosting the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot tournament for the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, over the weekend of 1-2 April 2017. This year the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot celebrate its 10th anniversary and in that occasion welcomed more than 800 participants – students, coaches, arbitrators – and gathered teams from 79 universities coming from 39 countries of the world: from North and South America, Europe and Asia to Australia. By the number of participants, the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot definitely grew into the world’s biggest and prestigious pre-moot for the Willem C. Vis Moot.

The tenth Belgrade Open Pre-moot was officially opened after the ninth Belgrade Arbitration Conference. In occasion of the anniversary, the organizers gave special awards to teams, outstanding individuals and sponsors that have been supporting the Belgrade Open Pre-moot from its beginning. The special awards were given to University of Zagreb, SS. Cyril and Methodius University, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, University of Tirana, Saarland University, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, University of Fribourg, University of Sarajevo, Bilkent University, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Federal University of Paraná, Istanbul University, Law Offices Karanović & Nikolić, Moravčević Vojnović and Partners in cooperation with Schoenherr, Petrikić & Partneri AOD in cooperation with CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz, NKO Partners, Samardzić, Oreški & Grbović Law Firm, MIM Law Firm, Serbian Arbitration Association, American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia, GIZ Open Regional Fund, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, Center for International Legal Education of the University of Pittsburgh, DIS, Iva Paić, Dr. Judith Knieper, Karl Peter Puszkajler. Afterwards, more than 70 former members of the Belgrade team organized a surprise for coaches and organizers of the Belgrade Pre-Moot – Prof. Vladimir Pavić and Ass. Prof. Milena Đorđević, and at the end all participants blew out the candles on a three tier cake in honor of the tenth anniversary of Belgrade Open Pre-moot.

During the two days of pre-moot, and continuing the tradition of challenging and stimulating pleadings, students were given an opportunity to showcase their skills before highly competent arbitrators in the seminar rooms of the Faculty of Law and in the offices of Karanović/Nikolić law firm, Moravčević, Vojnović& Partners in cooperation with Schoenherr, Nikolić, Kokanović,Otašević law firm, Samardžić Oreški Grbović Law Office, Mihaj Ilić Milanović law firm, Gecić Law Firm, Čajić Law Firm, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia and American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia. As a testament to the lasting quality of the event, leading experts in arbitration, esteemed practitioners, judges, academics and attorneys from all around the world, as well as one third of teams that advanced in the elimination rounds in Vienna, joined as arbitrators, chairing and judging in more than 170 hearing that took place over the weekend. The Schedule of hearings can be downloaded here. More »

Following the successful completion of the VIII Belgrade Arbitration Conference, University of Belgrade Faculty of Law had the honor of hosting the ninth annual Belgrade Open Pre-Moot tournament for the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, over the weekend of 12-13 March 2016. This year the Belgrade Open welcomed more than 600 participants – students, coaches, arbitrators – and gathered teams from 61 university coming from 29 countries of the world: from North and South America, Europe and Asia to Australia and Oceania. In line with the trend from previous years, the Belgrade Open attracted great interest of law schools worldwide. By the number of participants, the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot grew into the world’s biggest pre-moot for the Willem C. Vis, and as a testament to the lasting quality of the event, leading experts in arbitration, esteemed practitioners, judges, academics and attorneys from all around the world, as well as seventeen team that advanced in the elimination rounds in Vienna, including team from Buenos Aires that won in oral rounds of the competition in Vienna, joined as arbitrators, chairing and judging in more than 150 hearing that took place over the weekend.

During the two days of pre-moot, and continuing the tradition of challenging and stimulating pleadings, students from 29 countries were given an opportunity to showcase their skills before highly competent arbitrators in the seminar rooms of the Faculty of Law and in the offices of Karanović/Nikolić law firm, Moravčević, Vojnović& Partners in cooperation with Schoenherr, Nikolić, Kokanović,Otašević law firm, Samardžić Oreški Grbović Law Office, Mihaj Ilić Milanović law firm and American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia. The Schedule of hearings can be downloaded here.

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Following the well attended VII Belgrade Arbitration Conference, University of Belgrade Faculty of Law had the honor of hosting the eight annual Belgrade Open Pre-Moot tournament for the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, over the weekend of 21-22 March 2015. This year the Belgrade Open welcomed more than 600 participants – students, coaches, arbitrators – and gathered teams from 65 universities coming from 30 countries of the world: from North and South America, Europe and Asia to Australia and Oceania. In line with the trend from previous years, the Belgrade Open attracted great interest of law schools worldwide. Accordingly, the participant waiting list for the Pre-Moot was very long. By the number of participants, the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot grew into the world’s biggest pre-moot for the Willem C. Vis, and as a testament to the quality of the tournament leading experts in arbitration underlined its significance in further promotion of arbitral dispute settlement in their monographs (Jan Paulsson in “The Idea of Arbitration”), while the German publishing house C.H.Beck enlisted Belgrade Open Pre-Moot as one of the leading premoot tournaments in the world in their “Willem C. Vis Moot Guide”.

During the two days of pre-moot, more than 160 arbitration hearings took place in the seminar rooms of the Law Faculty and in the offices of Karanović/Nikolić law firm, Moravčević, Vojnović & Partners in cooperation with Schoenherr, Nikolić, Kokanović, Otašević law firm and American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia.

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After organizing the well attended VI Belgrade Arbitration Conference, the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law had the honor of hosting the seventh annual Belgrade Open Pre-Moot practice rounds for the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot on 5 and 6 April 2014. This year the Belgrade Open hosted more than 500 participants – students, coaches, arbitrators – and gathered the teams from 56 universities coming from 26 countries of the world: from North and South America, over Europe and Asia to Australia and Oceania. Like in previous years, the Belgrade Open attracted great interest of law schools worldwide. Consequently, the waiting list for the participation at the Pre-Moot was rather long. By the number of participants, the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot grew into the world’s biggest pre-moot for the Willem C. Vis Moot.

During the two days of pre-moot, more than 130 practice sessions took place in the seminar rooms of the Faculty and the offices of Karanović/Nikolić law firm, Nikolić, Kokanović, Otašević law firm and American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia. See Schedule of Hearings >>

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After organizing the well attended V Belgrade Arbitration Conference, the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law had the honor of hosting the sixth annual Belgrade Open Pre-Moot practice rounds for the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot on 16 and 17 March 2013. This year the Belgrade Open hosted more than 500 participants – students, coaches, arbitrators – and gathered the teams from 47 universities coming from 27 countries of the world: from North and South America, over Europe and Asia to Australia and Oceania. Like in previous years, the Belgrade Open attracted great interest of law schools worldwide. Consequently, the waiting list for the participation at the Pre-Moot was rather long. By the number of participants, the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot grew into the world’s biggest pre-moot for the Willem C. Vis Moot.

During the two days of pre-moot, more than 130 practice sessions took place in the seminar rooms of the Faculty and the offices of Karanović/Nikolić law firm, Nikolić, Kokanović, Otašević law firm and American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia. See Schedule of Hearings >> More »

The last weekend of March 2012 was scheduled for a traditional Belgrade Open Pre-Moot, the pre-moot competition organized on the occasion of the biggest world moot competition in International Commercial Arbitration and International Sale of Goods, Willem C. Vis, that will be held for the 19th time this year in Vienna. The Faculty of Law University of Belgrade has been organizing this pre-moot ever since 2008 in cooperation with GIZ Open Regional Fund for South East Europe, and this year we marked a small but significant milestone – the fifth anniversary of the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot. In the past few years, Belgrade Pre-Moot has grown to be the biggest pre-moot for Willem C. Vis in Europe with over 400 participants – arbitrators, coaches and students from 37 Universities and 26 different states from around the world, including Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America (see Schedule of hearings). As in the past, the Pre-moot was preceded by the Belgrade Arbitration Conference. For more information on the inception of the Belgrade Open pre-moot and how its participants perceive it see >>

Apart from the great number of participants, one of the main features of the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot is outstanding quality of preparatory hearings since participants at the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot are regularly ranked among the top ten in Vienna. On the other hand, the fact that there are so many universities interested in this pre-moot is another evidence of quality of the competition itself. Namely, due to limited capacity, more than ten universities that wanted to come to Belgrade could not have been included in the final list of participants since the spots were filled on “first-come-first-served” basis.

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The IV Belgrade Open Pre-Moot took place from 8-10 April 2011. There were 31 teams from 22 countries (Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Germany, India, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Urugay and USA) and around 140 arbitrators from all around the world registered for this event All together more than 80 pleadings were scheduled and held during this weekend (See Schedule of Hearings >>). Belgrade Open Pre-Moot was an exceptional occasion to see how the real international commercial arbitration works, since public is normally not allowed to attend arbitral proceedings. The working part of the Pre-Moot was accompanied by an extensive list of social activities: lunches, dinners and sightseeing tours.

We are particularly proud of the fact that 15 teams that took part at the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot qualified for the elimination rounds in Vienna (top 64 teams out of 260 which participated this year) and that many of the students who took part at our event received honorable mentions for the best speakers.

Apart from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, the organizers of the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot were GIZ Open Fund for South-East Europe and the Foreign Trade Court of Arbitration attached to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. The organization of this event was supported by Belgrade City Hall, Tourist Organization of Belgrade and Karanović – Nikolić law firm and Moravčević Vojnović Zdravković law firm in cooperation with Schoenherr. On behalf of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, the biggest part of the organization was caried out by lecturer Milena Đorđević, LL.M., Prof. Dr. Vladimir Pavić and lecturer Marko Jovanović, LL.M. They were fully supported by the Management of the Faculty of Law and helped by a groups of students-volunteers.

The III Belgrade Open Pre-Moot took place from 19 to 21 March 2010 and gathered 22 teams from 16 countries (Albania, Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Germany, India, Italy, Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and USA). See Schedule of Hearings >> As an opening event to the III Belgrade Pre-Moot an international arbitration conference was organized.

More than 100 renowned lawyers and scholars from more than 20 countries took part as arbitrators (See List of Arbitrators), and more than 60 pleadings were scheduled and held during the weekend. Belgrade Open Pre-Moot was an exceptional occasion to see how the real international commercial arbitration works, since public is normally not allowed to attend arbitral proceedings. The working part of the Pre-Moot was accompanied by an extensive list of social activities: lunches, dinners and sightseeing tours. See Photo gallery  >> 1  >> 2  >> 3

Apart from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, the organizers of the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot were GTZ Open Fund for South-East Europe and the Foreign Trade Court of Arbitration attached to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. The organization of this event was supported by Belgrade Town Hall and the following law firms: Karanović – Nikolić, CMS Beograd and Moravčević Vojnović Zdravković in cooperation with Schoenherr. On behalf of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, the biggest part of the organization was caried out by lecturer Milena Đorđević, LL.M., Prof. Dr. Vladimir Pavić and lecturer Marko Jovanović, LL.M. They were fully supported by the Management of the Faculty of Law and helped by a groups of students-volunteers headed by Dragutin Nenzic, Master’s student at our Faculty.

We are particularly proud of the fact that 10 teams that took part at the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot qualified for the elimination rounds in Vienna (top 64 teams out of 252 which participated this year) and that many of the students who took part at our event received honorable mentions for the best speakers.

After an excellent feedback from the I Belgrade Open pre-moot held in 2008, the Faculty of Law decided to continue organizing this event. 2009 Belgrade rounds took place from 28 to 29 March 2009 and gathered 17 teams from 14 countries (New Zealand, Singapore, Russia, United States, Mexico, Spain, Austria, United Kingdom, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Albania). More than 70 renowned lawyers, practitioners and professors from all over the world (Serbia, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, etc.) served as arbitrators and more than 50 hearings were held in just two days. II Belgrade Open was held on 28-29 March 2009 and was preceded by an Arbitration Conference, which took place on 27 March. The Belgrade Open Pre-Moot was a unique opportunity for the public to see how the arbitral proceedings really look like, since a typical arbitration is strictly confidential. For a short video from II Belgrade Open click here>>  1 2

The Faculty is particularly proud of the fact that 10 out of 17 teams that took part at the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot qualified for the elimination rounds (top 64 teams) at the Vienna Moot, including the winner of the Moot – Victoria Wellington University. What is more, all the four semi-finalists from the last year’s Vienna Moot participated at this year’s Belgrade Open. These results are the best proof of quality of the Belgrade Pre-Moot. A special acknowledgement of high appreciation for the Belgrade Open Pre-Moot came from UNCITRAL – Belgrade rounds were the only Pre-Moot out of several similar events organized throughout the world which was listed in the CLOUT Bulletin, the official UNCITRAL publication which presents the most important developments in the field of international trade law and commercial arbitration.

The first Belgrade Open was held from 7-9 March 2008 and has attracted a number of excellent teams from the best universities worldwide and some of the leading scholars and practitioners in the field of Arbitration and International Commercial Law. We are proud of the fact that three of the four best teams in the last year’s competition (2007/2008) participated at the Belgrade Open. In addition, 12 more faculties from 10 different countries were also present at the pre-moot.

List of participating teams at the 1st Belgrade Open includes: Vienna (Austria), Touro and Denver (USA), Wellington (New Zealand), New South Wales (Australia), Novosibirsk (Russia), Kyev Mohilla (Ukraine), CEU (Hungary), Zagreb and Rijeka (Croatia), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Belgrade (Serbia), and the following observing participants: Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Justinijan I Skopje (Macedonia) and Tirana (Albania).