Arbitration moots are certainly the most awaited moment for fans of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Through their fictitious cases, students can develop specific expertise and soft skills, as well as expand culture and networking. After all, there are moots spread across the most diverse countries in the world. However, due to the pandemic, an event that has never been experienced by the moot community, the 2020 moots were deeply affected.

The most traditional international arbitration moot, the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot had to resort to creativity in order to avoid its cancellation and allow the occurrence of the oral rounds of its 27^th edition. The students were given a few options: refund the registration fees for the oral hearings, use the registration fee for the following year, or participate online. The mooties who opted for the online rounds adjusted their time zones and received feedbacks through conference calls. The final was even streamed via Facebook. The XII Competición Internacional de Arbitraje y Derecho Mercantil (Moot Madrid) followed the same path.

The 17^th Vis East chose both formats: there was an online edition, and in a leap of faith, the Vis East promises to define a new date for the face-to-face rounds by the end of the year. The Foreign Direct Investment Arbitration Moot (FDI Moot) was confident that it would keep its planned physical rounds in Korea, in November. However, recently, the FDI Moot opted to follow the solution adopted for the regionals, and also conduct the final rounds online. The 20^th edition of CPR’s International Mediation Competition was canceled.

In Brazil, the Business Arbitration Competition (CAEMP) and the North and Northeast Mediation and Arbitration Competition (COEP) had their cases published and have been indefinitely postponed. The Organization of the Brazilian Arbitration Moot (CAMARB) recently published its case and decided for a fully online format. After an agreement among the registered participants and the organization, led by Camile Souza, the Negotiation Meeting will have classificatory rounds online.

Thankfully, technology provided a life extension for moots. But what did the participants think?

Luíza Kömel, Assistant Secretary-General of the CAM-CCBC, who acted as an arbitrator in the Vis Moots, stated that there were significant differences in the evaluation of participants, especially with regard to criteria relating to body posture, visual contact, gestures, voice projection, nervousness and, in particular, teamwork. Simple measures allowed students to adapt to the new mechanisms of evaluations in the online oral rounds, such as keeping the camera further away, widening the frame.

Ms. Kömel described the experience as completely different from the previous ones, and stated that there were some problems with technology, time difference, last-minute cancellations (of both arbitrators and teams), and absence of face-to-face interaction between students and professionals. However, as she put it “The Vis Moot has taken the best decision to hold the competition online, rather than to just cancel it. The students’ dedication was thus acknowledged and students were granted the opportunity to present the work that had been prepared for so many months”.

The Law School of the University of São Paulo with isolated speakers stated it was not possible to develop teamwork, but other measures were taken to readjust the team to the virtual environment. The good focus of the camera allowed the arbitrators to notice the speakers’ gestures, and the professional atmosphere was promoted with a neutral background. The speeches were clear and paused, preventing any misunderstandings due to connection problems, and allowing speakers to repeat statements whenever it was requested by the arbitrator.

Referring to technical problems, the team declared that 30 minutes before the round of 16, the internet connection was not working, and the team had to move to the residence of its coach and organize the whole set again. Moreover, according to the speakers, the team had to “learn how to make two Pomeranians stop barking seconds before the panel started – while trying to keep sane!”

There were also difficulties related to time zone differences: during the Vis Moot rounds some of the teams had to wake up early in the morning (1:30 AM) for a long sequence of eliminatory panels, without significant breaks between each round.

The coach of the team from the University Center of João Pessoa (Unipê), Vinícius Trajano, stated that “in the virtual competition, students have the opportunity to adapt to a new method that has been increasingly used in some cases. For instance, when there is an impossibility for a face-to-face meeting with all the participants of arbitral proceedings, then it is jointly decided to hold a Remote Hearing for that purpose, whether it may be for the execution of the Terms of Reference of even an Evidentiary Hearing.”. The Unipê team participated in both virtual editions of the Vis Moot and the Vis East and believe that “that one aspect that has room for improvement which would be the way in which the arbitrators grade the presentations. The conditions of presentation have changed, therefore the way of evaluating a speaker could also be more shaped to the new standard.”

Despite all these issues, the teams evaluated the experience satisfactorily However, students have expressed the expectation that the Vis Moot returns to the original format, since “there is a loss in the international networking experience, as well as in the team’s unity and the motivation of the participants.” We believe that this is the feeling of all mooties. After all, these events usually create bonds among the competitors and are the starting point of great careers.