The Pre Moot - Basel / Freiburg

On Saturday and Sunday we had the Basel Pre Moot which was an intense weekend of pleadings. We did 5 moots over two days against the University of Basel, the University of Freiburg, the University of Mainz, the London School of Economics and the University of Belgrade.

Going 150km/s in a Smartcar on the autobahn

We had incredibly intense judging. Some of the moots would end up with 30 minute speeches per speaker because we were asked so many questions. The problem has certainly developed a lot, especially in relation to the remedies available for breaches of confidentiality. We got some very positive feedback but we also have ALOT to work on, which is why recording all our moots has been really helpful. The language barrier has resulted in some hilarious comments by the speakers including the announcement that 'size does matter' and one mooter who meant to say he was confused by our arguments and instead told the tribunal that he was stoned.

Freiburg. Lovely.

Everyone has been so incredibly welcoming and we have already made so many friends. We had quite a big night out last night and Nigel and I were very proud of the fact we managed to drunkenly get back to our Swiss apartment, changing trams along the way. We also had our tickets checked that night so luckily we had bought them despite being slightly inebriated. Basel was a great city. The university campus is very impressive although it does have some strange artwork like a person riding a fly. The judging in Basel was incredible. Professor Dr Schwenzer chaired our panel against the London School of Economics this morning and asked some incredibly challenging questions. She's basically a German Elias.

There were so many professional arbitrators and CISG research assistants at the pre moot, each of the six judges of the first two rounds had doctorates. We have been told that the judging in Basel was much more difficult then the judging in Vienna will be. We hope this is so because the questions we got asked were incredibly difficult although also a great opportunity to show our knowledge or in some cases lack thereof!

Alex was the only one who though it was different
from an NZ cheeseburger. "The bread tastes better"

We are now in Freiburg until Wednesday and David Tebel (pronounced Daa-vid), the Freiburg coach, wants to put us through our paces against the incredibly good Freiburg team. We were kindly driven to Freiburg this afternoon by one of the Freiburg team members and got our first experience of the autobahn. Reaching 160 kilometers and overtaking a policeman when going at 120km were two real highlights. Freiburg is a beautiful city. We got to have a walk around the city in the twilight and did a cheeseburger comparison at the local McDonalds. We are staying with the lovely Ilka (here) until Wednesday. We are looking forward to some very tough pleadings starting at 10 am tomorrow and seeing more of the city, we need to be careful not to fall into the gutter in Freiburg as the story goes that if you fall into the gutter in Freiburg you must marry a Freiburger. Although Freiburg is so lovely it would not be a bad thing to marry a Freiburger methinks.

See photos of our time in Basel here

Alex Sinclair