On October 12-14 in Manama, Bahrain, CLDP, in cooperation with Royal University for Women (RUW), the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution (BCDR-AAA), the University Pittsburgh's Center for International Legal Education (CILE), and MENA Chambers Bahrain held a preparatory training in Manama, Bahrain, aimed to prepare South Asia, Middle East and North Africa law students to compete in the 25th Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, to be held in Vienna, Austria and Hong Kong in March-April 2018.  Participants included coaches and students representing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia.  The participants will be introduced to analysis of the Vis problem, legal writing strategies, and necessary resources that will empower their respective teams to complete their required written submissions for the competition.  The objective of the program is to develop a sustainable model of “train the trainers”, by applying best practices using a CLDP training toolkit manual that was developed in collaboration with CILE. Through this program, CLDP had trained over 130 students and is supporting a new generation of international transactional lawyers and arbitration experts.

In February 2018, CLDP, CILE and regional partners will organize the 8th Annual Willem C. Vis Middle East International Commercial Arbitration Pre-Moot. The Pre-Moot will bring together Vis Moot teams from around the region for oral advocacy training and participation in a practice Vis Moot competition in order to prepare students to compete in the Vis Moot in Vienna in March-April 2018

The Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot (Vis Moot), held annually in Vienna, Austria, is the pre-eminent moot competition on commercial law and arbitration. The Vis Moot is an educational tool, initiated by UNCITRAL, for arbitrators, judges, lawyers, professors, and law students, to foster the study and practice of international commercial and arbitration laws and encourage the resolution of business disputes by arbitration.