Competition Heidelberg Law Students Successful in International Legal Competitions
13 April 2026
Heidelberg University team wins awards at the Vis Moot Courts in Hong Kong and Vienna
The Heidelberg University team won several awards at a student legal competition on arbitration law issues – the 23rd Vis East Moot in Hong Kong. Heidelberg students Anna Louisa Hassel, Mira Lehmann, Lilli Petirsch, Noah Rosenbohm, Emma Sendler and Vladislava Serzhenko were awarded first place in the simulation of a fictitious case for their Memorandum for Respondent, with their Memorandum for Claimant coming in second place. In doing so, the team prevailed against more than 180 participating universities from around the world. The law students from Heidelberg University also achieved success in a competition in Austria.
The team performed strongly at the 33rd Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna. Out of more than 400 student teams worldwide, it qualified in 17th place for the Round of 64, the elimination round. Individual achievements were also recognized in the two legal competitions: Lilli Petirsch in Hong Kong and Anna Louisa Hassel in Vienna each received an honorable mention for their appearances as speakers. Another honorable mention in Vienna went to the Heidelberg team’s Memorandum for Respondent, while in Hong Kong, the team also reached the top 32 teams in the oral hearings.
“Heidelberg University has been participating in the international Vis Moot with great success since 1995. For 30 years now, the competition has been an integral part of our legal education profile,” says Prof. Dr Marc-Philippe Weller, Vice-Rector for International Affairs and Diversity at Heidelberg University, professor at the university’s Faculty of Law and the team’s academic supervisor. “I am all the more delighted that, in this anniversary year, we were able to build on this tradition and once again achieve outstanding results.” The Willem C. Vis Moot is the world’s largest and most prestigious student competition in the field of private law. It is based on fictitious cases from international commercial and civil law, founded on the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. During a preparation phase lasting around six months, the teams draft written memoranda and then represent both claimant and respondent before a simulated arbitral tribunal. The Vis East Moot is the sister competition, in which questions of international arbitration and commercial law are dealt with in an Asian context.
The successes in Hong Kong and Vienna – the competitions took place from 15 to 22 March and from 27 March to 2 April 2026, respectively – were preceded by numerous strong performances in international preparatory competitions. Among other achievements, the Heidelberg team secured first place at the Istanbul Pre-Moot and second place at the All Munich Rounds. The team was coached by Moritz Böbel, Carolina Radke, Moritz Barth, Tobias Caspers and Elena Stegmann under the academic direction of Prof. Dr Christoph A. Kern, Prof. Dr Thomas Pfeiffer and Prof. Dr Marc-Philippe Weller from Heidelberg University’s Institute for Comparative Law, Conflicts of Law and International Business Law.