Victor’s Moot 2019 at Sri Lanka Law College

The long-awaited event of Sri Lankan law students, the H.V. Perera QC Memorial Moot Court Competition (also known as Victor’s Moot), will be held for the second time from March 22 to 24 at the Sri Lanka Law College (SLLC).   

The competition, set to provide international exposure to Sri Lankan law students, is organised by the SLLC Moot Society. It will be based on international commercial arbitration which is a significant development in alternative dispute resolution (ADR). 

“Establishing an effective and reliable system of ‘commercial litigation and arbitration’ is an important factor in enabling a country to upgrade to a higher income category,” Supreme Court Justice Prasanna Jayawardena said. 

Due to its strategic location, Sri Lanka had the opportunity to become the best regional country to establish an international arbitration centre, where commercial disputes between corporates or individuals in foreign nations are resolved by providing a reliable legal platform as ADR. It could have attracted local and foreign investors, traders and businessmen to utilise the arbitration centre and visit Sri  Lanka whenever they had commercial disputes. While we failed, Singapore and Malaysia grabbed this opportunity with both hands and set up international arbitration centres. 

The vision of Victor’s Moot is to become a vital gateway to the law student community, to not only hone their skills of arbitration in practice but also of legal research, analysis, writing and oral advocacy

With the growing significance of such a discipline, the SLLC Moot Society expects to utilise this competition to help in-house counsel in commercial entities to be completely aware of and be trained in arbitration skills, thus underpinning a platform for law students to hone their skills and eventually benefit the wholesome growth of this area of alternative dispute resolution on a national scale. 

Looking back at the inaugural Victor’s Moot, the SLLC Moot Society had the pleasure of hosting eight local and eight international teams from prominent universities in India, Pakistan and Thailand. The final round was between Rajiv Gandhi University in India and Royal Institute in Colombo, in which the former clinched the prestigious title. The competition was adjudicated by a distinguished panel of arbitrators including Dr. Kanag-Isvaran PC (President of the Tribunal), Dr. Harsha Cabral PC, Faisz Musthapha and Professors Sri Lal Perera and Romesh Weeramantry. 

The vision of Victor’s Moot is to become a vital gateway to the law student community, to not only hone their skills of arbitration in practice but also of legal research, analysis, writing and oral advocacy. The simulation of a court atmosphere while arguing on hypothetical matters gives them a first-hand experience of functioning under pressure and with the intellectual flexibility required to be successful advocates in the future. Therefore, this international mooting arena is organised with the aim of exposing the budding legal minds in the country to international factors and healthy competition, creating the next generation of legal academics and professionals in Sri  Lanka.