This is just the second time that FIU Law participates in the Moot Madrid, and the second consecutive year that our students bring home not one, but two prizes. The awards were: an “honorable mention for the legal memorandum on behalf of claimant”, and “honorable mention for the best offer to reach a settlement”. The Moot Madrid is particularly challenging because it involves a very complex dispute with energy, anti-trust and international commercial law elements; and all proceedings (written and oral) are in Spanish.
This activity also marked our third Collaborative Online International Learning Project (COIL) with a group of law students from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB) from Venezuela. In preparing for the Moot Madrid, our students had an opportunity to learn and put in practice concepts of international arbitration, energy, anti-trust, and comparative law. They were also able to work collaboratively alongside foreign colleagues trained in the civil law tradition, which in turn helped them hone their legal Spanish language skills. Both groups of students were able to train together via video conferencing and other forms of online collaboration, under the direct supervision of Gilberto A. Guerrero-Rocca, Professor at UCAB and International Legal Projects Manager at FIU; and also benefitted from the assistance of distinguished practitioners from Miami and Washington, D.C. The Miami International Arbitration Foundation (MIAF) and other donors provided material support to the Venezuelan students for the competition.