Cresting the Glockner and Navigating the Danube: My Arbitral Expedition in the 30th Vis Moot, Vienna

By Victor Maina

University of Nairobi Vis Moot Team Member

“Ladies and gentlemen, I will be frank. You are about to try conquering the Everest in roughly five painstaking months, in shorts and sneakers, having never even hiked the Ngong Hills in Nairobi.”

This would be a fitting and poetic summary of our first team meeting with our coaches in October 2022. Bewildered would, however, be an understatement, considering that the newly-constituted team just came from a rigorous and highly competitive internal selection process at the Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi. The majority of us were under the impression that the journey would be taxing, but not to the extent initially portrayed.

Unlike other moots, the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot ("Vis Moot") demands expansive and nuanced knowledge in both arbitration substance and advocacy, a resounding and vehement fact which my few stylistic words do not come close to appreciating. Matters were further exacerbated in my particular scenario at the time, having rudimentary, if no, prior knowledge of arbitration, let alone the intricacies of international arbitration, other than it humorously being a dispute settlement mechanism threatening to quietly entice clients away from us future court-room litigation lawyers.

The Vis Moot experience gave me the chance to have a first interaction with the United Nations Convention on the Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and its application and role in transnational commerce, considering that Kenya has not yet ratified the Convention.

I was met with the challenge of familiarizing myself with foreign concepts that I have not yet encountered in the Kenyan legal curriculum, and pitting myself against my contemporaries and seniors with a much more comprehensive understanding and appreciation of the content and field of practice. Despite it all, I was ready to make the commitment to strive for perfection and mastery and be abreast with them, even against the backdrop of glaring academic mandates back at school, incidental roles of engaging with potential sponsors and correspondence with friends of the team, and more personal roles of assisting my younger siblings with studying for their exams. Mooties wear multiple hats during their participation, and them thriving in the Moot is testament to their fortitude and ability.

The Vis Moot is also very particular and calls for excellence. Often it will push for the Hawk Eye UAV’s absolute altitude rather than a team’s measly Kestrel Eye-esque service ceiling. The specificity of objectives we aimed to fulfil meant that the written memoranda were to be styled to reflect top practice in the field, or “state of the art” as my fellow mooties would concur. The work was bulky and warranted hawk-eyed attention in aligning statutory provisions, and academically supported principles and interpretations, with the incontrovertible factual picture deponed in the record. At times it called for total abandonment of previous arguments and formulation of new ones which held more water, such instances often finding me at the brink of getting to my Eureka moment. Rabbit holes were extensively explored during the written phase (cartographers would be proud).

Nonetheless, the coaches, team and I proved unrelenting and worked our fingers to the bone in order to meet internationally prescribed standards we crystallized from our predecessors’ winning memoranda. Looking back, the bare-knuckle instruction paid off in the grand scheme of things, with positive and encouraging comments hitched to our documents.

I consider the Vis Moot experience as an overly pleasant one, despite all the difficulties and snags we hit. Fellow African mooties, also enthusiastic about showcasing their skills and effort, were quick and excited to share their understanding of the record and relevant provisions, their arguments and counter-arguments. A toast to all, for a remarkable effort and job well done!

This was a quality that resonated in other mooties from all over the world as second nature; the Vis Moot spirit of collaboration and peer-learning came to the fore during the week in Vienna. Coaches would often chip in with expert knowledge and words of motivation and encouragement regardless of where a team came from or how it had performed, further emphasizing the Vis Moot as more of a learning process than a cut-throat competition. The camaraderie and hospitality were evident, from the hosts as well as the Viennese locals, who were always at hand to assist.

Learning does form the core of the Vis Moot, as Professor Kroll and Professor Kee always reiterate, and learning is indeed evinced in all aspects of the Viennese experience, both before and after arrival at the Juridicum of the University of Vienna.

Aside from the legal and factual aspects, the Vis Moot prompted me to learn how to interact with Kenyan experts in the field in a bid to gain further understanding of the subject, as well as support towards our participation in the Moot.

Recalling the Vis Moot in its entirety, I picked up the underrated importance of teamwork in such an ambitious endeavour, and tolerance and calm in times of pressure and stress. I learned how to pick up on my teammates fading and faltering, and how to galvanize them back on track, as they often did for me. I also had to polish on my diplomacy to forge lasting friendships with other mooties, coaches and arbitrators. Adaptability, flexibility, independence and map skills also came in handy during our stay in the city, as we continued to appreciate the Austrian way of life in travel and commuting to and from event venues, leisure and study.

Thrive we did, all whilst still enjoying the endless amusements Vienna had to offer in elegant and emotional Mozart performances at the Opera House, ornate and rich Viennese art, and the ever-lively Moot Bar at Aux Gazelles, which also speaks to learning restraint in indulgence!

The Vis Moot is more than just a moot competition: it is a wholesome, multi-faceted lifetime experience compressed into seven amazing months of crests, troughs, plateaus and inclines. It taught grit, diligence, time consciousness and perseverance in me and showed me a different side of the world and beautiful culture. It also pleases me that I am able to transpose my dispute settlement nuggets acquired through the Vis Moot to my Alternative Dispute Resolution class, and vice versa. The learning curve was worthwhile and has prompted me to reconsider my litigation goal quite critically.

In retrospect, the Vis Moot marked the intersection of growth and evolution from an international perspective. But for my participation, I would not be this much enlightened on the principles that underpin international commercial arbitration practice. Perhaps international arbitration is indeed the way to go!

The most eloquent of words still fall short in capturing my Vis Moot experience; you simply have to be there to see it. Despite not having conquered the Glockner, I am elated to have got climbing boots to wear, winter apparel to adorn myself, a trail map to follow, and a chance to take a swing at it. Being a Vis Mootie, I, like Nietzsche, now know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and impossible. The fact that something seems impossible should not be a barrier to pursuing it; that is exactly what makes it worth pursuing. Where would courage and greatness be if success was certain? The only true failure is cowering in the face of life’s mountains.

I am eternally grateful for the facilitation and opportunity to grace my maiden arbitration moot and better still in an overseas jurisdiction. The Vis Moot experience was worth tenfold its weight in gold, and I would gladly make the commute to Schottentor Station again.

To all who made the Austrian dream a reality, dankeschön (Thank you)!