The 31st Willem C. Vis Moot and the 21st Vis East Moot took place from October 2023 to March 2024. Hannes Birkenbeul, Daniel Bosdorf, Yannik Bühring, Franka Kaufmann, Marianne Kloeppel and Josepha Ostermeyer competed for the team from Leibniz Universität Hannover under the supervision of Marilena Fortmann and Lena Gebauer. With the support of numerous alumni, the entire department and Prof. Dr. Christian Wolf, this year's team was the most successful team at Leibniz University Hannover to date.
This year's case centred on a cyberattack on the plaintiff and a phishing email that caused the defendant to transfer an outstanding purchase price payment to an account that did not belong to the plaintiff. The substantive part of the case centred on whether the purchase price payment was possibly made by transfer to the fraudsters' account in accordance with the contract or whether it could at least be reduced because the plaintiff failed to comply with potential obligations to provide information about the cyberattack. From a procedural point of view, it had to be worked out whether these proceedings concerning a purchase price payment claim could be combined with a second outstanding purchase price payment claim of the plaintiff.
After the four-month pleading phase, the team then entered the oral phase at the beginning of February 2024. In preparation for the final rounds, the team took part in numerous pre-moots. These took place in Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Warsaw and Munich. The Hanover team competed against teams from all over the world. In addition, there were trial hearings at law firms such as Addleshaw Goddard, von Boetticher, Eckert, Lindenpartners, Linklaters and Noerr against other German teams in front of experienced practitioners as a tribunal.
This intensive and exhausting time prepared the team perfectly for the final rounds in Hong Kong and Vienna. This year's team was awarded an honourable mention for the plaintiff's pleading in Hong Kong. In Vienna, the team achieved the best Hanoverian result ever. Out of 373 participating teams, Marianne Kloeppel and Yannik Bühring made it to the round of the best 16 universities. This puts the Vis Moot team from Leibniz Universität Hannover in the top 6% of participating universities from all over the world. In addition, both the defendant's pleading and the plaintiff's pleading were awarded honourable mentions in Vienna.
The team's ambition paid off and deserves great recognition. In addition to the outstanding academic successes, the participants had an unforgettable time in which many contacts were made and friendships forged.
The faculty congratulates the team on this great achievement.
About the Willem C. Vis Moot
The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot (short: Willem C. Vis Moot or Vis Moot) is a moot court competition in the fields of international commercial arbitration and commercial law, in which students from all over the world take on the role of lawyers and represent clients in a fictitious case in a simulated court hearing. Further information can be found here.
