The Final Moot. Finally.

We had made it. All of our hard work had paid off to bring us to this point. Andrew Butler had called to give the team some advice: "this is yours" was all he needed to say.

Katherine and David each began their individual pre-moot preparation. Katherine sat at the Respondent's desk and while listening to some soothing NZ music (thank you Fat Freddys Drop) prepared her final thoughts for Universal Auto Manufacturers S.A. David was nowhere to be seen in the banquet hall, but was in fact pacing quietly and running through his arguments (out loud, so yes, it was something of an odd sight). Richard provided Katherine with his final thoughts, and all the advice from the coaches, and messages from family at home were essentially that we own this, we can do it, we can take out this competition (the underlying message: don't co*k it up now guys!)

As Katherine and David were Claimant in the semi-final, and ILS respondent, we switched for the final. So ILS began the moot. It was an intimidating setting, not unlike the Showcase Moot held at Simpson Grierson some months previously. So like the showcase moot, no matter how many people are watching (over 1000 this time) it is just a matter of settling into listening to your opponent and figure out how to destroy their arguments (in the nicest way possible). Katherine began and put in an excellent performance. However, it must be said that as good as Katherine was, it was David that sealed the performance. David had two tough questions from one of the Arbitrators. These were very tough questions and certainly qualified as "trick" questions. But we had been working on these facts for the past 7 or so months. We know this case backwards, and David managed to show the Arbitral Panel that in those two questions. It was truly spell bounding. If Katherine had been unaware of the fact she was on stage in bright lights with 1000 people watching, she would have just turned around and stared agog at David. Truly the most spectacular moment in all of the moots we had completed.

so we finished the final ever moot on a high note, and went to enjoy some fresh air. Then it was time for the banquet dinner, at 3 in the afternoon, but inside a banquet hall there was no concept of time. We heard the announcements for best written memoranda (not for us sadly, we prefer style over substance it seems...) . And then the announcements of Honourable Mentions for individual speakers. Well done to David who picked up one of those. And then it was time for the final announcement. As luck would have it we were actually sitting at the same table as the ILS team. So our team held hands, and their team held hands, each hoping for very different outcomes.

Each of the three arbitrators gave the crowd their thoughts on the final moot. We don't know how long that took, probably only a few minutes, but for us it was an eternity. And then the announcement, from the President of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, the winner of the 2009, Sixteenth Annual Vis Moot is...

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON!!

If you ask anyone from the team what happened in the minutes that followed the announcement, none of them could tell you. It was one of the most exciting moments in life, what we do know is that there was a lot of hugging.

We made it up to the stage and thanked the panel, and then David gave a very fitting acceptance speech. To sum up what he said, we do want to thank everyone for the support that they gave us during the competition, this includes:

• Our family and friends who didn't complain when we were living in the Law School building writing the memoranda.
• To the workmates who covered us when we had to take slightly longer lunch-breaks than technically allowed in order to fit in the practise moots.
• To our coach Richard, who gave up huge amounts of his time to come and watch us for almost every single practise moot, and who provided us with plenty of (constructive) criticism.
• Mike, for hosting us in Auckland, and for providing excellent comments and who also gave up huge amounts of time to help us in our charge to win the competition.
• To our respective workplaces, Simpson Grierson and Russell McVeagh who allowed us the time off to compete at the Vis moot.
• To Yana, without her we could not have got any of our administrative tasks done.
• To our fellow Victoria Vis mooties who gave up large chunks of their time in coming to and judging our practise moots. Special thanks to Catherine Harwood and Dan Watterson who we thrust into the deep end by making them be a part of the Vis Moot showcase. (And of course Arjun for feeding us very well on our whirlwind stop through London,)
• To all of the other judges that helped by coming along to our practises and providing extremely helpful feedback, thank you for giving up your time.
• To the German universities who hosted us, Munich, Freiburg, Bonn, Bucerius, FU Berlin, and especially those students from these universities who very kindly provided Katherine and David with a place to stay.
• The organisers of the pre-moots in Madrid, Belgrade, and Leuven.
• And finally, the biggest thanks of all has to go to the amazing, could not have done it without her, and without her there is no vis moot: Dr Petra Butler. Petra puts in absolutely huge amounts of time in getting us ready for the competition. She has never a cross word to say and is always so helpful for advice and thoughts on how to approach problems and issues that arise. She was there at 11.59 pm when the memoranda were due, and then treated us to drinks afterwards. She gives up so much of her personal time, time which is away from her family, to help us, and quite simply we would not have entered the competition, or go all the way to win it without her being a part of the team. So to Petra, we are so glad we won the competition, it has been a long time coming for Victoria University and we owe so much of our success to you. Thank you!!