April 27, 2009

Touro Law Center Team Makes “Sweet 16” in International Moot Competition

From left to right: Touro Law Professor and team coach Jack Graves with students Han Sheng Beh, James Lucarello, Benjamin Noren and Sardar Asadullah.

Central Islip, NY – Touro Law Center’s student team made it through the elimination rounds to the “round of 16” and finished tied for ninth in the prestigious 16th annual Willem C. Vis International Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria. The competition included teams from 233 law schools from 59 countries around the world. Congratulations to Touro students Sardar Asadullah, Han Sheng Beh, Benjamin Noren and James Lucarello, who received an individual award recognizing him as one of the best in the world for his oral argument.

“This competition is a great platform for our students to demonstrate they are among the best in the world,” said Professor Jack Graves, faculty coach for the team. “Over the past few years, Touro Law students have become known for their outstanding professional international advocacy and have distinguished themselves as true competitors in this international competition.”

All 233 teams participated in four preliminary rounds over the course of four days, after which the field was reduced to 64 teams who competed in elimination rounds for a place on the final stage in front of almost two thousand students, arbitrators and law professors from around the globe. Touro Law tied for ninth place and was one of only three law schools from the United States in the top ten.

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is the largest and most prestigious private law student moot in the world. The event was designed to foster study and increase global awareness in the areas of international sales law (focusing on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the Sale of Goods) and international commercial arbitration (focusing on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration) and also to bring students, practitioners, and law professors from around the globe together for a single event in Vienna. Each year, the Moot revolves around a fictional international transaction in goods, which includes an agreement to resolve any disputes in arbitration. For the students, the six-month enterprise includes the submission of written memoranda for both Claimant and Respondent, followed by oral arguments held in Vienna the week before Easter. In addition to students and coaches, the event draws hundreds of preeminent practitioners and law professors from around the world to participate as arbitrators.