Oct. 3, 2018 — A law school team from India won the inaugural international commercial arbitration award writing competition, "Write the Award," co-sponsored by the Blakely Advocacy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center.
The team from Gujarat National Law University in Gandhinagar, India, placed first, winning $5,000 for its school; followed by Bond University, Robina, Australia, $2,000; and the University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, $1,000.
"The 'Write the Award' competition gives students valuable insights into the reasoning and decision-making required to render an enforceable award," said Jim Lawrence, Executive Director of the Blakely Advocacy Institute. "It is the capstone experience of the international arbitration process."
The competition is open to students from around the world who have competed in the annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition.
Two, non-profit organizations with worldwide membership, the North American Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Alliance for Equality in Dispute Resolution, are co-sponsors of the competition.
The Blakely Advocacy Institute gives Law Center students the opportunity to integrate substantive knowledge with practical skill. In addition to sending student teams to competitions across the country and abroad, the Institute hosts the annual Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Moot Court National Championship which draws the nation's 16 top moot court programs. The Institute also hosts The National Mediator Competition, a unique dual-track competition based on caucus-model mediation.
The CIArb provides education and training for arbitrators, mediators and adjudicators and serves as an international center for practitioners, policy makers, academics, and those in business concerned with the cost-effective and early settlement of disputes. The Alliance for Equality in Dispute Resolution advocates for increased diversity in the international dispute resolution community.
The Vis moot competition is designed to foster the study of international commercial law and arbitration and train law leaders of tomorrow in methods of alternative dispute resolution to resolve international disputes. The Vis Moot, held in Vienna each year, draws more than 325 teams from around the world. The Vis (East), held each year in Hong Kong, had 127 teams this year.
