The UNPAR Faculty of Law Moot Court Team (Parahyangan International Law Society or PILS) made history by reaching the Quarter-finals in an international competition, the Willem C. Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition. This competition is held annually in Hong Kong. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s competition was held virtually on March 14 – March 20, 2021. UNPAR team consisted of Christopher Cusan (2017), Gabriela Angelica (2018), Elvina (2019), Myria Athayyani (2019) and Tiara Ananda Kartika (2019) and team supervisors Evelyn Tanissa (2017), Elisabeth Tania (2017), Jason Daniel Edgar (2017) and Sherly Xu (2017).
The Vis Moot competition is one of the most prestigious moot court competitions in the world, especially in the field of commercial arbitration. Participants in this year’s competition came from147 universities and more than 33 countries including various well-known universities such as Harvard University, Monash University and Singapore Management University. The problem raised in the Vis Moot this year is the issue of intellectual property rights in a vaccine licensing and sales agreement and whether the seller violates the contract based on the 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). In addition, there are also procedural legal issues regarding the joinder of third parties and whether the witness and expert hearing can be held remotely.
In this year’s competition, the UNPAR team ranked in the Top 8 out of a total of 147 competing teams. This is a glorious achievement for UNPAR, considering that only 2 universities in Indonesia have made it that far in the history of Vis Moot in Hong Kong.
In the preliminary round, UNPAR team managed to beat the teams from Campbell University School of Law, Instituto Tecnolögico Autönomo de México, School of Law National Chiao Tung University, and Peking University. In the Top 32 round, UNPAR team won against the team from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and in the Top 16 round the team defeated Istanbul University. Unfortunately, in the Quarter-finals, UNPAR team’ journey had to stop because the team lost against Fordham University School of Law. However, this achievement is the best ever by UNPAR in the Vis Moot competition.
This encouraging result is also a source of additional motivation for the Faculty of Law UNPAR and the Parahyangan International Law Society (PILS), the student organization that coordinates the preparation of UNPAR’s international moot court teams, to continue to improve the quality of UNPAR law students and compete at the global level as one of the leading law faculties in Indonesia.
This achievement is inevitably also the result of extraordinary support from many parties who have contributed their thoughts and enormous time to assist in the preparation of the team’s legal materials. The Vis team was trained and received guidance from lecturers John Lumbantobing, S.H., LL.M., MCIArb., And Theodora Saputri, S.H., LL.M.
UNPAR and PILS would also like to express our deepest gratitude to the external advisors of the Vis team: Dr. Gustaaf Reerink, FCIArb from Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro, Ari Bessendorf and Michael Tardif from Allen & Overy, Ginting & Reksodiputro, Narendra Adiyasa, FCIArb from Hiswara, Bunjamin & Tandjung (FH Unpar ’98, Jessup ’02 & ’03), Kendista Wantah, FCIArb from Singapore International Arbitration Center (FH Unpar ’06, Jessup ’10), Adrian Panata from Frans Winarta & Partners (FH Unpar ’11, Asia Cup ’15), Jessica Bellamy from Christian Teo & Partners (FH Unpar ’11, Jessup ’13 & ‘14), Joselyne Lesmana from AC Ventures (FH Unpar ’13, Asia Cup ’15), Michelle Angelina from Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro (FH Unpar ’15, Vis ’17 & ’18), Michelle Gracia Susilo from Assegaf Hamzah & Partners (FH Unpar ’15, Vis ’17 & ’18), and Einar Fausta Hertianto from Parulian Situmorang & Partners (FH Unpar ’16, Jessup ’18 & Vis ’19). Long live FH Unpar!