Memoranda

Already prior to official start of the Vis Moot, the moot experience begins! Every August the Team visits the annual “Frankfurt Drafting School” of the Goethe-University of Frankfurt which aims to prepare the new mooties for writing their future memoranda. Additionally, you will get to know other teams for the first time - those teams, you will see frequently in the future (so called fellow sufferers).

Finally, it becomes official every October: The Problem is being published and the work on the case begins. No matter how long you have studied, read up or whether you have attended the Drafting School – at the very start everybody feels overstrained! Writing a memorandum not only is conducted in English but also fundamentally different from writhing a regular assignment – it does not require the beloved “Gutachtenstil”. You will rather reach slowly the right arguments, supported of course by the professors and coaches. However, as time goes by, you grow into the facts, the law and get a fell for (in-)convincing arguments. You inevitably learn how to put sentences together and how to argue concisely in English.

Although this phase of the moot at first glance may seem hard or dull, it can be great! Reading, typing, discussing… That is basically what writing legal documents is all about. Reading a lot helps to really get into the topic you are writing about, to become a specialist in not only one field of international commercial law and most importantly, to become a team player! Moot co-workers quickly become friends, and mooties quickly become a whole team. Time flies and becomes even more fun by cracking open a cold one or watching a film.

You are also not tied to the office, but visit the Drafting School, law firms and the University of Würzburg - for preparation and to exchange and party with some other teams. Furthermore, this phase is also the cornerstone of the pleading phase which will then be the highlight! Nonetheless, the fun as well as the learning effect both start much earlier!