Description:

Here you will find all the specific information about the Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot Court.

The competition is an international moot court focused on the oral presentation of legal arguments in the field of investment arbitration, conducted before arbitral tribunals composed of leading specialists in the field. The final event takes place in June and simulates real-world arbitration proceedings through a highly immersive and academically rigorous format.
Each year, the competition officially begins in November with the publication of a case study, identical for all participating teams. The case is based on real historical events spanning from the 4th to the 19th century, requiring students to argue the dispute under modern international law while also taking into account historical decrees, treaties, and legal instruments. This distinctive feature challenges participants to combine historical legal analysis with contemporary arbitration principles.The competition is divided into two main phases: a written phase and an oral phase. During the written phase, teams are required to prepare skeleton arguments for both the Claimant and the Respondent, which must be submitted to the organisers by March. This phase focuses on the development of concise, structured, and persuasive legal reasoning.
The oral phase runs from March to June. During this period, teams participate in pre-moots organised by institutions around the world, allowing students to refine their advocacy skills and gain experience in simulated hearings. Teams must defend both the Claimant’s and the Respondent’s positions in one-hour oral pleadings before arbitral tribunals, in preparation for the final stage of the competition.
The final rounds take place in Frankfurt. Teams compete against one another in three general rounds, after which the highest-ranking teams advance to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final. The final hearing lasts ninety minutes and is presided over by eminent practitioners of international law, including judges of the International Court of Justice, while the general rounds are adjudicated by renowned scholars and practitioners.

Educational Value:

Participation in the competition gives the students the possibility to develop a series of valuable and highly appreciated skills in international professional contexts such as knowledge of legal English, techniques of both written and oral advocacy, as well as in-depth expertise of subject matter of strategic relevance in transnational dispute settlement. Being part of a team challenges students to cohordinate and work in group, developing team building skills as well.

Why to partecipate

1. Expertise in strategical legal fields

Taking part in the Frankfurt Moot will allow students to familiarise and deepen their knowledge in legal fields which are of utmost importance for an international career in law, such as international law and international investment arbitration, while keeping students interested in legal history as a tool to understand finesse of law and economy.

2. Carrying out legal research

Under the supervision of the coaches, each team member will learn how to carry out the necessary legal research to support the relevant arguments and the parties’s case while drafting the memoranda, using different Italian and foreign databases, both in paper format and in electronic versions. 

3. Learning techniques on written and oral legal advocacy in English

Students will learn techniques, of utmost importance for lawyers involved in a cross-border litigation and arbitration setting, on critical thinking and oral legal advocacy, as brainstorming and structuring ideas, and orally pleading in an organised, convincing and fluent manner is a powerful tool in the practice of law.
The team will be trained in identifying and framing the key legal, factual and evidential issues in each legal dispute, and it will learn to present legal arguments in a clear, effective and persuasive way. In the both the written and oral phase the teams will learn to organise arguments with the preparation of effective roadmaps, will work on opening and closing statements, and prepare oral pleadings, improving debating skills and developing self-confidence in answering foreseeable and unforeseeable questions without hesitation.

4. Teamwork

Students will learn how to work in team. Teamwork and team building are fundamental abilities and skills in any working environment. They help group’s members to better understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and interests. They set the tone for a positive work culture and strengthen individual members’ unique contributions. They increase productivity and develop the collective potential and by channeling that increased productivity into a fun, inclusive team building activity, teams can bond in a more effective way than by other methods. They enhance the motivation to work, the creativity and general enthusiasm. They foster and improve communication and trust among teams’ members. 

5. International network

Participation in the Frankfrut Moot competition will offer the unique opportunity to enter in contact with a worldwide network of eminent and outstanding academics, professionals, arbitrators, officers of international arbitration institutions and international organizations. Every year hundreds of people gather in Frankfurt for the final stage of the competition. Many people met during the Moot will become friends for life.

6. A stepping stone for a successful career in law

For many students, participation in the Frankfurt Moot has been a life-changing experience, for the huge professional opportunities it offered for a successful career in the legal profession.

7. The best possible experience

Participation in the Moot competition will probably be the best experience students can do during their universities’ studies, if not in their entire life.