Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Commercial Arbitration Course

Hi,  I am writing here to rising 2 and 3 Ls in order to bring their attention to a course with the mysterious title "ICAM." That stands for International Commercial Law Moot but that does not tell you much.

The first five weeks of the course are devoted the the study of the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG),  the New York Convention, and the UNCITRAL Model Law.  The CISG is the actual statutory law of the US and about 90 other countries pertaining to contracts between parties in different countries. You would not believe the number of attorneys who have blundered into attempting to apply the UCC. The CISG is much shorter than Article 2 of the UCC but covers basic contract law questions. At the end of the five weeks there is a short exam.

The first Friday in October the international organization in charge of the Moot issues the CSIG problem for the year. It also includes a procedural issue. At that point the class does not meet on a formal basis. We may gather for brainstorming sessions. During that time, students write Claimant's briefs based on the problem. Those are due in mid November. 

At that point students make a 15 minute oral argument based on their brief to me and a couple of others. There is no final exam or further work.

EXCEPT. Based on the briefs and oral arguments a four-person team will be selected to travel to the international competition in Vienna. The Law School covers all expenses. About 200 teams from 100 countries participate over a five day period in arbitration sessions.  It is hard work and great fun. 

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