Reproduced with the permission of 5 Croat. Arbitration Yearbook (1998) 235-240
A. The Perspective of the Team Members [*]
Introduction
As participants of the Fifth Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot we had the opportunity and honor to represent the University of Zagreb, the Faculty of Law along with the best students in the world and to accumulate as much experience and knowledge as possible concerning commercial arbitral proceedings. The following lines are dedicated to law students all over the world who have the desire to deepen their knowledge in this particular area of law.
The beginning
On 1 October 1997 a meeting was held to which all senior students were invited to hear what the subject of this year's case would be and what would be expected from the participants. Among other things, Professors Hrvoje Sikiric and Siniša Petrovic, as coaches, told us about the achievements of last year's Student Team. All of us were very proud to learn that last year the Zagreb Student Team won third place for the Memorandum for the Defendant and honorable mention for the Memorandum for the Claimant. However, we all promised to do our best to achieve an even better result.[page 235]
Afterwards, professors held a short interview with each one of us in order to select the members for the Team. The issue was presented to all the candidates, and some time was given to us to read it. One week later, as a result of high standards to meet, only five students continued with the work on the issue.
The work on memoranda
At the beginning, it was very difficult to handle all the materials that we had to study in order to resolve the issue considering none of us was familiar with the practical type of work. In Croatia, practical work on a project is a very unusual thing for students prior to graduation. Fortunately, during the first few days we were supported by endless enthusiasm of Davor Babic and Siniša Duranovic, team members from the year before.
Our next challenge was that we have had no experience in writing memoranda. Thankfully, our two guardian angels, assistant Hrvoje Markovinovic and assistant Petar Miladin, monitored our efforts very closely, focusing on every mistake that we could have made.
We received enormous help from all the professors at the Faculty, especially in earlier stages of our work. They were very helpful and very patient in listening to all the ideas that we had. On the other hand, there were days when everything went wrong. We would be mulling over the problem for hours and we would still not be able to come up with one single idea. Those moments were regularly accompanied by the nervous break-downs of our computer. Fortunately, supported by the anxious staff of our Faculty, we managed to overcome all these problems and to finish our memoranda on time.
Preparation for the oral hearings
When we completed our work on the Memoranda, the most difficult part began. None of us had the answer to the very simple question: how to prepare ourselves for the oral hearings? Moot courts are regular activities at universities in the common law countries. On the contrary, they are not at all represented in the civil law countries. We also had to be prepared to speak in English and to argue against teams which were native English speakers.
We divided the roles among ourselves and started with preparations. First, we wrote speeches and tried to argue the crucial issues of the case within the given time-frame of 15 minutes. After that we were ready to start practicing divided in two teams, one representing the Claimant and the other one representing the Respondent. Since the arbitrators can pose questions at any time during the oral presentation, we went through all the possible questions in order to avoid all eventual traps. We thoroughly studied other background materials such as the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral [page 236] Awards, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and UNCITRAL Model Laws, some of the books with the most important commentaries concerning the Vienna Sale Convention, as well as all the cases that we used during the work on our Memoranda.
Finally, a few days before we left for Vienna, we held a general rehearsal before all the professors who participated in our work.
The Grand Finale
On Friday, 3 April 1998, a reception was held for all the participants of the Fifth International Commercial Arbitration Moot, and we finally got a chance to get to know our colleagues from other Universities and to let out the butterflies which were flying in our stomachs for days. When the ice was broken everything seemed easier.
Our hearings were held according to the following schedule:
| Saturday, 4 April at 13:00 : | Hearing vs. Pace University, NY, USA (as claimants) |
| Sunday, 5 April at 9:00 : | Hearing vs. Columbia University, NY, USA (as defendants) |
| Monday, 6 April at 11:00 : | Hearing vs. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (as claimants) |
| Tuesday, 7 April at 9:00 : | Hearing vs. University Law College, Bangalore, India (as defendants) |
At the end of our last hearing we did not know anything about our chances to enter the final rounds. The hours during which we were waiting for the announcement seemed to be the longest hours of our lives. Finally, in the afternoon Professor Bergsten, the organizer of the contest, announced the names of the Universities which entered the quarter-finals. Among the best eight teams in the world was the University of Zagreb. The wave of joy that overwhelmed us cannot be interpreted by words. It simply must be experienced.
On Wednesday, 8 April at 11:00, we had quarter-finals hearings vs. University of Queensland (as claimants). After the oral argument, we believed we gave the best performance that we could. However, the University of Queensland entered the semi-finals and they deserved it. After all, last year the University of Queensland won the Frédéric Eisemann Award for the best oral performance. This year they also entered the finals but, unfortunately for them, the University of Münster was better. [page 237]
On Friday, 9 April, after the final round, a reception was held by the Mayor and Governor of Vienna for all the participants of the Fifth International Commercial Arbitration Moot, followed by the Awards Banquet at which the winners were announced as well as the names of the other teams with the best results. The University of Zagreb received honorable mention in both categories for the written memoranda. Thus, the University of Zagreb became the only University that has been rewarded in all three group categories except for the University of Münster, the absolute winner of the whole contest.
Behind the curtains
Irrespective of the competition, a few other things happened. First of all, we met a great number of law students from other countries and, what is even more important, from legal systems which are different than our own. It was a pleasure to have the chance to exchange our views and perspectives. Among so many different individuals from other continents it was not surprising we could find a couple of friends too. Since we had our first argumentation with Pace University, NY, we invited them for a drink. Afterwards, that "drink" became a usual festivity almost every day.
Fortunately (since we entered the quarter-finals), we did not have much time to spend on parties, except on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday a reception was prepared for all the participants at the premises one of the renown Vienna law firm and on Thursday we had the honor to attend a reception at the Croatian Embassy prepared exclusively for the participants from two Croatian universities, the University of Rijeka and the University of Zagreb. The reception was followed by dinner with the Croatian ambassador, Dr. Milan Ramljak.
A personal angle
Our lives changed in various ways by participating in this competition. Not only did we learn so much about law and life, but we boosted our self-confidence enormously and, above all, we made friends for life.
Knowledge. We got a chance that very few other students from our University have had: learn about one specific area of international and commercial law for months under guidance of some of the best professors in this field. We believe that we took advantage of that wonderful opportunity and that the results which we achieved are the best proof of that.
Friendship. Life is to short for creating enemies. The essence of it is to build bridges, not to pull them down. The five of us worked very hard to accomplish the goal that we had in front of us. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with such people and being fortunate enough to call them our friends. [page 238]
Self-confidence. When you come to the Faculty, you are like drops of water in a waterfall. All of us had the same question on our lips -- are we good enough to make it to the top? Well, the only criterion that could resolve the doubt whether you are really good or whether it is just your imagination, is the answer to the very simple question -- are you good enough to be really good? After all that we have gone through, we learned that the answer is hidden inside of every individual. We wake up with a smile on our faces every morning. Try everything, work hard, and you can do it too.
B. The Perspective of the Coaches [**]
A few years ago the authors of this paper who are also coaches of the Moot teams of the Zagreb Faculty of Law were in Vienna in different roles. One of them participated at the UNCITRAL seminar for young lawyers and attended the lecture given on that occasion by Professor Eric E. Bergsten. The other was the head of the official Croatian delegation at the annual session of UNCITRAL. During one of the informal meetings over a coffee, they discussed ways to encourage the students of the Zagreb Faculty of Law to be more active and more involved in practical work and how to develop and strengthen their sense of being proud to be part of the centuries-long tradition of the Faculty. At that time, in 1995, the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot took place for the second time. Participating at the Moot seemed to be the ideal manner for achieving the mentioned goals.
We investigated whether the students would be interested in participating at the Moot and asked the Dean if we could count on his support. The answers were positive. The first year (1996) of participation of the student team from the Zagreb Faculty of Law was unofficial. The reasons for that were twofold. We did not know whether the approach of the students would be serious enough and, on the other hand, we ourselves were not sure whether we could carry out the task of coaching. After having seen how responsibly the students approached the task, we were determined to proceed with official participation at the Moot in the following years. Now we regret that we have in a way deprived those first four participants of having sensed the real atmosphere of competition. However, we sincerely hope that they understand our gratitude and share our belief that their work had also significantly contributed to the achievements our teams have accomplished in the last two years (1997, 1998). The results speak for themselves. The Faculty can be very proud of them.
The permitted scope of assistance to the students in preparing the memoranda and for the oral hearings is strictly limited. Such are the rules. Nevertheless, our approach to that issue would anyway be the same. Our view is that the Moot is [page 239] for the students. Therefore they have to demonstrate their knowledge and abilities. We are there just to guide them and to try to encourage them. We are in the background, while the students are those who make things happen. For that reason they are those who deserve all the credits.
Despite our secondary role, coaching the students for the Moot is a tough job. It still requires a lot of our time and involvement in the whole process. Probably the most difficult part is to develop and maintain good working and human relations among them. Each of them is a strong individual. Each has his (her) own different view on various matters. Sometimes they persistently defend their opinions. That is good, since thereby they show their independence. However, sometimes it even leads to such quarrels that the interference of coaches is indispensable. We do not attempt to resolve the dispute by imposing our view on the problem, but just try to help them come to a joint solution after long discussions and identifying the problem step by step.
Our approach to the Moot derives from our general attitude on the role of teachers at the University. We are there not just to teach, but also to educate young people. Starting from that point of view, at the very first meeting with the team, we tell the students two basic things. The first is that the Moot is for them and, consequently, exclusively their work is required. It is up to them to determine what the results will be. The second is that we, as coaches, shall be pleased with the achievements insofar as they are pleased. We only insist that they always use the best of their abilities. The results of their activities may not always indicate their hard work. Nevertheless, we know how much they worked and what their approach was.
Life consists of successes and misfortunes. We believe that the Moot, besides promoting and encouraging the students' creative and individual work, also helps students to understand that truth of living. At the same time, the experience they gain is immense. Moot gives them the possibility to show what they can do as professionals and as human beings. Undoubtedly, what they experience and learn will assist them in their future careers.
After the first few years of coaching, we are fairly pleased, and not just with the results. We are even more pleased that we had the rare opportunity of coaching the best students of the Zagreb Faculty of Law. That was both a professional and human pleasure. Hereby we express our sincere gratitude to all of them for the time they invested, for their achievements, for their patience with our bad moods, influenced by our own problems. Most of all, we are grateful for the opportunity of spending many enjoyable professional and private moments together with them. We also believe that the friendship developed with some of them will go beyond the Moot and remain a precious and valuable reward which [page 240] the Moot has brought us, a reward confirming the satisfaction of performing the noble role of teachers. [page 241]
FOOTNOTES
* The Students Report is written by the Members of the Zagreb University Moot Team 1998:
Neven Balenovi, Damir Kaufman, Natalija Lacmanovi, Tomislav Nagy and Boris Štritof.
** The Coaches Report is written by Dr. Sikiri and Dr. Petrovi, Assistant Professors, Zagreb
University, Faculty of Law.
Pace Law School
Institute of International Commercial Law - Last updated July 26, 2005
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