Guest Post: Vis East Moot’s Influence on the Indian Arbitration Ecosystem: An Empirical Analysis

(An interesting guest post from Mr. Bharatendu Agarwal. Mr. Bharatendu Agarwal completed his B.B.A. LL.B. (International Law) Hons. from National Law University, Jodhpur before pursing an LL.M. in International Commercial Arbitration Law from Stockholm University, Sweden. He is currently working as Assistant Director (Law) at the SAARC Arbitration Council (SARCO) in Islamabad, Pakistan. Views expressed are personal.)   

The Vis East Moot (Hong Kong), which is the Asian cousin of the Vis Moot (Vienna), has over the years developed a niche of its own. The competition which hosted its 1^st edition in 2003-04 with only 14 teams, recently hosted the 16^th Edition (2018-19) with as many as 127 teams.

A statistical analysis of the total number of teams that have taken part in the Vis East indicates that participation in the competition has, over the years, grown quite steadily. In none of the 16 editions conducted till date has the total number of participating teams fallen below the number of teams that participated in the preceding year (refer Table 1). 

The Willem C Vis East International Arbitration Moot (Vis East Moot) Table 1 – Overview
Edition	Years	Total Participating Teams	Indian Teams
1st	2003-04	14	3
2nd	2004-05	18	4
3rd	2005-06	32	8
4th	2006-07	46	10
5th	2007-08	51	8
6th	2008-09	64	10
7th	2009-10	75	11
8th	2010-11	88	13
9th	2011-12	90	13
10th	2012-13	93	12
11th	2013-14	99	14
12th	2014-15	108	13
13th	2015-16	114	17
14th	2016-17	125	18
15th	2017-18	126	18
16th	2018-19	127	17

The maximum growth of the competition happened between the 3^rd and the 8^th editions where, barring the 5^th edition, the number of participating teams increased by a minimum of 11. There has, however, been a significant slowdown in the recent years, particularly in the 15^th and 16^th editions where participation increased only by 1 team (125 teams in the 14^th edition, 126 teams in the 15^th Edition and 127 teams in the 16^th Edition).

Indian universities have been participating in the Vis East since its inception. Out of the 14 teams that participated in the 1^st edition, 3 were from India. Naturally, growth of the competition also saw increase in involvement of universities from India (refer Table 1). Post the 5^th edition, a minimum of 10 Indian universities have always participated in the competition. The maximum number reached has been 18 (18 teams in the 14^th & 15^th editions and 17 teams in the 13^th & 16^th editions).

Vibrant participation of Indian teams in the competition provided them the opportunity to earn several laurels. The most coveted accomplishment of prevailing in the final round of the oral hearings (Eric Bergsten Award) has been achieved by Indian teams thrice - twice by the team representing West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (2^nd edition (2004-05) and 14^th edition (2016-17)) and once by the ILS Law College, Pune team (15^th edition (2017-2018)). NALSAR University of Law and O.P. Jindal Global University were runners up in the 14^th (2016-17) and 16^th (2018-19) editions respectively. NALSAR University of Law even earned the Fali Nariman Award for Best Written Memorandum for Respondent in the 11^th edition (2013-14). The Neil Kaplan Award for Best Individual Oralist (in the general rounds) was won by West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in the 1^st edition. Subsequently, the 2^nd runner up position has been bagged by National Law University, Jodhpur (10^th edition (2012-2013)) and O.P. Jindal Global University (14^th edition (2016-2017)). Besides these, Indian teams have earned several honorable mentions across various award categories (refer Table 2). 

The Willem C Vis East International Arbitration Moot (Vis East Moot) Table 2 – Honorable Mentions
Edition	Years	Memorandum for Claimant	Memorandum for Respondent	Individual Oralist
1st	2003-04	-	NUJS	-
2nd	2004-05	-	-	NUJS
3rd	2005-06	-	-	NUJS
4th	2006-07	GNLU	GNLU, NUJS	GNLU, NLSIU, NUJS
5th	2007-08	Data not available on the official website.
6th	2008-09	GNLU, NLUJ, NUJS	NLSIU	GNLU, NLUJ
7th to 9th	Data not available on the official website.
10th	2012-13	NALSAR	NLUJ	SLS
11th	2013-14	NLSIU, NLUJ, NUJS	NLUJ	NLUD
12th	2014-15	GNLU, NLSIU, NLUO, NLUJ	-	GNLU, NLUJ, NUJS
13th	2015-16	NALSAR, NLSIU	NLIU, NLUD, SLS	NUJS
14th	2016-17	NALSAR, NLIU, NLUD	RGNUL	NALSAR, NLSIU, NLUD
15th	2017-18	NALSAR, NLSIU, NLUD	Amity, GNLU, ILS, NLIU, NLUO	GNLU, ILS, NALSAR, NLSIU, NLUD
16th	2018-19	GNLU, NALSAR, NLUO, NUJS	NALSAR, HNLU, NLUO, NUJS	GNLU, JGLS, NALSAR, NLIU, NLUD, NUJS

Also, the Colin J Wall Spirit of the Moot Award (for the team which has had to overcome the most obstacles to participate) has been awarded to National Law Institute University, Bhopal, University Law College, Bangalore University, Pravin Gandhi College of Law and Tamil Nadu National Law School in the 8^th, 9^th, 10^th and 13^th editions respectively.  

Analysis reveals that Indian teams have overall achieved greater success in the last 2 editions (15^th & 16^th) (refer Table 2). While Vis East has always commanded respect for being the foremost arbitration law competition in the region, the greater commitment, and resultant performance, of Indian teams in the recent editions can be attributed to two reasons. First, the finals of the 14^th edition (2016-2017), involving 125 teams from all over the world, was contested between two of the most prominent law schools of India. Second, the institutionalization of mooting culture in law schools. The finals of the 14^th edition created ripples across the Indian legal community. It not only exhibited the talent pool present in the country but was also reflective of a jurisdiction which was taking its arbitration law and policy seriously (the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill of 2015 had only recently come into force). This captured the imagination of young law students and motivated them to perform better. The automatic consequence of this desire was strengthening of the mooting culture within law schools and universities. Till not very long ago, mooting activities were not given appropriate credit by the administration and faculty members. However, efforts of senior students and moot court societies, coupled with the prestige element that has now come to be associated with major competitions (such as the Vis), has helped convert the apathy into enthusiasm. It now a common sight to see dedicated support being extended to competing teams by faculty members and senior students in capacity of mentors / coaches. While this has been a norm in western universities, it is only now that this ecosystem has developed in India. The trend has strengthened in premier law schools and is catching on soon.

I represented Stockholm University (SU) in the 11^th edition (2013-14) of the Vis East. Strangely, I learnt more about research, analysis, drafting and advocacy while preparing for the competition as a part of the SU team than I learnt during my entire undergraduate studies (the fact that team members belonged to different countries and different legal jurisdiction was an added incentive). The primary reason for this was the level of support and encouragement that was extended to our team - not merely for the purpose of performing well in the competition but with the larger objective of harnessing the team’s intellectual capability and legal prowess. I recollect thinking that if I had participated in the Vis during my time in National Law University Jodhpur (NLUJ), instead of enjoying the learnings, the journey would have been rife with struggles and frustration. However, it is extremely gratifying to know that this sentiment no longer holds true and the landscape has changed radically, that too for the better. The Vis moot certainly has had a role to play in this positive change. The Vis East website in its ‘About’ section says that “The goals of the Vis East Moot and the original Vis Moot in Vienna are the promotion and study of international commercial arbitration and the training of tomorrow's legal leaders in methods of alternate dispute resolution”.  This has particularly been true in the Indian context and is evidenced by the fact that several Vis participants, whether laurel holders or not, have gone on to make contributions in the field of arbitration either at a firm or at an institution or through academia.

The Vis East has also been successful in achieving its other goal i.e. promotion and study of international commercial arbitration. The influence has been so great that the discourse on arbitration in India has reached unprecedented levels. Assessment of arbitration related activities / initiatives being conducted throughout the country presents an interesting picture. Besides the Vis India Pre-moot, which is currently being organized by Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), annual arbitration moot court competitions are being organized by National Law School India University (in collaboration with Trilegal), National Law University Odisha (in collaboration with Bose & Mitra & Co.), G.D. Goenka University (in collaboration with CIArb) and National University of Advanced Legal Studies. Essay competitions devoted particularly to arbitration have sprung up – Gary B Born essay competition by NLUJ, Satya Hegde essay competition by Nani Palkhivala Arbitration Centre (NPAC) and the Ratan K. Singh essay competition. National Law Institute University Bhopal recently launched a peer-reviewed journal devoted to arbitration (Indian Arbitration Law Review), something which NLUJ had done back in 2012 through the Indian Journal of Arbitration Law (an initiative which I was an integral part of).  Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University and JGLS have started arbitration blogs. Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University has commenced innovate courses (Arbitration Weekend) and training programs (Tour de Arbitration). Not to mention annual international conferences conducted by NLUJ, NLSIU, NPAC, ICC India and Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration. All of the above are reoccurring events and discount the one-of conferences and workshops arranged in 2019 by University of Lucknow, University of Punjab, Uttaranchal University, Gujarat National Law University and University Institute of Legal Studies.  

The 2019 amendments to Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 can be interpreted as the consolidated ripple effect of all this, particularly in light of the fact that the previous amendments were made only in 2015 i.e. less than 5 years ago. The Indian legislature which is notorious for failing to introduce and pass important laws exhibited surprising swiftness (the debate on the prudence of the 2019 amendments is another matter). This expeditious response has been possible only because of the Indian arbitration lobby that has grown larger, stronger and wiser over the past decade, some credit for which is undoubtedly attributable to the Vis East Moot.