Historic victory: Team from the University of St.Gallen wins one of the world's largest legal competitions

The HSG team (from left to right): Cédric Schad and Jurij Santschi (coaches), William Frauenfelder, Alexander Stadelmann, Dominic Rode, Raphael Wüthrich, Kara Oelke, Sofia Truniger and Nadine Boss (coach).

Last week, teams from almost 400 universities travelled to Vienna to take part in the Vis Moot. The Vis Moot is one of the world's largest legal competitions and deals with arbitration in international commercial law. For a week, around 3,000 law students from all over the world competed against each other in complex oral proceedings. Prof. Markus Müller-Chen, who led the University of St.Gallen team, commented on the victory: ‘Given the strong competition from around the world, this success cannot be overestimated for Switzerland and the HSG.’

The road to the final for the University of St.Gallen team

Six HSG students made up the successful team: William Frauenfelder, Kara Ölke, Dominic Rode, Alexander Stadelmann, Sofia Truniger and Raphael Wüthrich. They were supported by five coaches: Prof. Dr. iur. Markus Müller-Chen, Prof. Dr. iur. Marco Stacher, Nadine Boss, Jurij Santschi and Cédric Schad. The team spent almost nine months preparing for the Vis Moot. These months, filled with research, writing, pleadings in Swiss law firms and preliminary rounds in Riga, Berlin, Munich and Belgrade, culminated last week in Vienna.

The team competed in four qualifying rounds in Vienna, in which all members pleaded, and thus qualified for the final rounds. There, the best 64 universities competed against each other. The HSG team prevailed against Mathias Corvinus Collegium Law School from Hungary, the University of Copenhagen from Denmark, the University of Freiburg from Germany, Deakin University from Australia and the University of Göttingen from Germany. On Thursday, they faced the team from McGill University in Canada in the final.

Swiss support in the final

In the final, Dominic Rode and Alexander Stadelmann pleaded on behalf of HSG. They competed against two students from McGill University. The legal battle between the four students took place in the Austria Center Congress Centre in front of an audience of over 3,000. Alexander Stadelmann recalls: “The feeling on stage with Dominic was unique.” He particularly emphasises the special team spirit among the Swiss teams: “All the Swiss in the hall were cheering us on and giving us a lot of encouragement. Not just as the University of St. Gallen team, but as the first team from Switzerland to reach the final. This solidarity gave us enormous strength at this important moment.” After the 90-minute final, the three experienced judges delivered their verdict. The HSG team was the first Swiss team in the 32-year history of the Vis Moot to take home the victory.

Further awards

In addition to winning the Eric E. Bergsten Award for overall victory in Vienna, the HSG team received further awards: both legal briefs submitted were recognised, and Sofia Truniger and Alexander Stadelmann were also honoured individually. They each received recognition for outstanding rhetorical performance.

More pictures from the 32nd Vis Moot:
https://galleries.seirer-photography.com/32nd-Vis-Moot/n-pFxMMR