Addis Ababa University

Loid Taye Negatu

Loid Taye Negatu is a senior student in Bachelor of Laws program at Addis Ababa University, where she has particular interest in Education and Child rights. Her interest developed as she volunteered in Ludhiana, India as a debate coach and English teacher for middle school students as part of a program targeting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Following her high interest to mooting in International Commercial Arbitration, Loid participated in the 2022 Deakin ICA Moot and recorded a wonderful oralist result. Currently, she is a core member of team Addis Ababa University to the 30th Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. During her time in university, she acted on her interests by organizing an event to commemorate International Day of Children Victims of Aggression under the United Nations Association – ET AAU Chapter. Loid has also participated in debate competitions and is a National Moot Court champion as well as becoming the best oralist. Loid has represented her university on several accounts the most notable being; she was a panelist on the UN WOMEN organized event on March 8 regarding Inter-generational Dialogue on Gender Equality, and her participation in the International Summer University for Intercultural Leadership of 2022 program organized by Project Aladdin, a patron of UNESCO. Beyond her academic related activities, Loid has worked at the Center for Human Rights providing legal advice for vulnerable groups, additionally she has worked for law offices specializing in corporate, energy and investment law, and looks to develop her interest and expertise through different experiences.

Yordanos Nega Abraha

Yordanos Nega Abraha is a final year student currently doing her LLB degree in Law. Yordanos is passionate about inclusion, representation, and equality. She is also passionate about mooting especially in International Arbitration. Following her unique passion and interest, Yordanos is currently a core member of Team Addis Ababa University to the 30th Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration. Yordanos Nega was a member of the winning team in a National Moot court competition held in 2022. Additionally, she was able to successfully participate in the 2022 Alfred Deakin International commercial Moot court competition, where her interest in the world of mooting and arbitration was further expanded. She has served as a director for an international organization named InventSTEM, her pillar worked on advocating for STEM accessible policies for different marginalized groups, such as women and people living with disabilities. Besides being in the 2020 class of Women Delivers Young leaders program, she is a member under the coalition of Ethiopian Women Human Right Defenders in collaboration with Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA). She was able to get a nomination as a “Women Human Rights Activist” in acknowledgment of her participation and efforts in the coalition. Due to her strong academic record, she was able to represent Addis Ababa University by partaking in an International Summer University course for Intercultural Leadership initiated by Project Aladdin, in cooperation with UNESCO.

Gutema Kajela Ejeta

Gutema is a fifth year (final year) undergraduate law student at the prestigious Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Gutema has a unique passion in Arbitration. As a result, he is the member of Team Addis Ababa University for the 30thVis Moot. Gutema is a consistent, open minded, tolerant, transparent, inquisitive, analyst, self-confident, and self-reliant person. As a result, he has an impressive academic performance being the top of his class. In addition to his academic performance, Gutema demonstrates excellent writing skills. So far, Gutema has participated and won in the 2021 Lex.lead essay competition on ‘How can laws protecting (or restricting) free speech impact upon economic development? being one of the 17 winners globally. His essay was also published by the International Bar Association (IBA). He was also selected to be a Lex.lead ambassador and mentee. Gutema also participated in 20th International Committee of the Red Cross Essay Competition for East African Universities on the ‘the legal and practical challenges posed by detention by armed groups during armed conflict’ for which he got a certificate of participation. Gutema aspires to be a topnotch business lawyer, especially in international sales law and arbitration, after graduation. Participation in the Thirtieth Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is the best starting point in his long journey to achieve his aspirations and goals.

Erin Cronjé (Coach)

Erin is a South African attorney (akin to a solicitor) with over 9 years of diverse arbitration and litigation experience in major law firms in South Africa and the Netherlands. Erin is currently a Senior Associate at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (Amsterdam), practicing in the field of international arbitration and litigation (investor-state and commercial disputes). She has acted as counsel in multiple arbitration proceedings under the Rules of the ICC, ICSID, VIAC, NAI, AFSA and UNCITRAL, and in the South African courts and alternative fora. Erin is also a CEDR-accredited mediator for the United Kingdom and Southern Africa. Erin holds an Advanced LL.M in Public International Law from Leiden University (cum laude, 2017), and an LL.M in Environmental Law (2014) and LL.B (cum laude, 2010) from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Since 2019 Erin has co-authored annual contributions to the Global Arbitration Review Know-How Series, on Challenging and Enforcing Arbitral Awards in the Netherlands, and Investment Treaty Arbitration in the Netherlands. She is currently co-authoring a book chapter titled "Expedited arbitration in action: Is the practice making perfect?" in Expedited International Arbitration: Policies, Rules and Procedures, Anderson and Verbist (eds.) (forthcoming, 2023)

Erin is a member of the Educational Programme Committee. Together with Awoke Mitku Tamrat, Erin is also coaching Team Addis Ababa University. Erin is passionate about training and development of (future) African practitioners. She looks forward to collaborating with the Africa in the Moot community, and supporting all teams in their Vis Moot journey and beyond.