ICC Lex Mercatoria is an annual international student contest in resolution of a moot case prepared by the ICC International Court of Arbitration to be resolved pursuant to the ICC Arbitration Rules, other ICC documents and ICC International Court of Arbitration practices.
Useful links Previous Results
Official site of ICC Lex Mercatoria Contest 2014 2015
Rules of ICC Lex Mercatoria Contest
Each team prepares in advance and sends to their opponents memoranda of the plaintiff and the defendant, setting out procedural and substantive arguments. Oral hearings are conducted by a tribunal of international arbitrators. These include representatives of the ICC International Court of Arbitration (Paris), arbitrators from the International Court of Arbitration of Belarus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, team coaches, lawyers from international law firms.
The purpose of the contest is to help students develop skills of representation in international commercial arbitration in the course of a dispute, interpretation and application of law, devising and presenting their cases before an international panel of arbitrators. The contest is also designed to further development of friendly ties between representatives of various law schools and exchange of professional experience among leading practicing lawyers and legal scholars.
The Contest is organized by the Law School of Belarus State University, ICC International Court of Arbitration (Paris), International Court of Arbitration of Belarus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ICC’s Russian National Committee (ICC Russia) and others. The place of oral hearings is Minsk (Belarus).
In 2016, the IV ICC Lex Mercatoria Contest took place from November 25 through 28, 2016.
This year the Contest’s language will be both Russian and English.
The official site of English Chapter
For more information, please, visit official website
Comment from Yury Ustinov, participant in 2013, 2014. (Perm State National Research University)
ICC Lex Mercatoria offers an excellent opportunity to students interested in international commercial law to demonstrate their knowledge and practice their skills of public speaking in Russian. Initially being a counterpart of Willem C. Vis Moot, ICC Lex Mercatoria turned into an independent moot of its own that gathered more and more teams from different countries every year..
It is also comforting to acknowledge that this Minsk event brings in not only students but also leading experts in international arbitration who not only provide invaluable experience to students but also offer them an excellent opportunity to make contacts with future employers.
Comment from Nikolay Gorelik, participant in 2014 (Belarus State University)
It’s great that such a contest takes place in Minsk. An excellent opportunity to meet students from other countries. It is interesting how problems are interpreted at oral hearings, there are so many different opinions. But in such a contest preparation is even more important than presentation itself. During preparation one not only gains knowledge but, more importantly, learns to process information, distinguish important from unimportant.
Of course, the contest has room for improvement. For example, I would like to see more entertainment where all teams could gather and just talk to each other.
In general, this is a very useful experience; such contests make you more mature both as a human being and as a lawyer.
