On the morning of November 29, 2019, the 87th Training Session, Moot Arbitration for Trainee Lawyers — Practical Training on Commercial Arbitration, , was held at the multi-function room in the International Chamber of Commerce Building, The Session was co-hosted by China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (“CIETAC”), Beijing Lawyers Association and China University of Political Science and Law. About 150 trainee lawyers in Beijing attended the session.
The arbitral tribunal of this session comprised three senior arbitrators of CIETAC: Mr. Li Hongji, Partner of Commerce & Finance Law Office, served as the Presiding Arbitrator; Ms. Bi Liyan, Deputy Director of Legal Department, China Minmetals Corporation, and Mr. Dong Gang, Chief Compliance Officer of Morgan Stanley in China, respectively served as the arbitrator selected by the Claimant and the Respondent.
The moot arbitration was based on a bet-on agreement dispute adapted from a real CIETAC case. It was one of the most common cases adjudicated by CIETAC. The dispute mainly concerned the effectiveness of the bet-on agreement, whether the Claimant can claim performance compensation and equity repurchases at the same time and so on. The arbitral tribunal first demonstrated to the audience the process of pre-hearing deliberation which is not open to the parties in a formal hearing, to show the arbitrators’ clear understandings of the proceeding, fact pattern and key issues. When the formal hearing began, guided and organized by the arbitral tribunal, the attorneys of both sides stated their claims and defenses respectively, commented on evidence, and fully debated on key facts and legal issues of the case.
After the hearing, the arbitral tribunal also analyzed the issues of this case through a deliberation, and concluded tendentious preference opinions based on the submitted materials and trial statements. It sought to help trainee lawyers put their thoughts into shape and understand the characteristics of arbitration.
After the moot arbitration, the three arbitrators talked about their own legal practices and commented on the submitted materials and performances of both sides. The arbitral tribunal reviewed the performances of both attorneys and pointed out the problems of trainee lawyers. The arbitrator Ms. Bi Liyan referred to the newly released “Minutes of the 9th Civil and Commercial Trial Work Conference of the Supreme Court” and reminded trainee lawyers to pay attention to the real settings in bet-on agreement cases and stay in line with the trends of both economy and law. She also made constructive suggestions on drafting a bet-on agreement. The arbitrator Mr. Dong Gang reviewed for trainee lawyers the changes of bet-on agreement cases in judicial practice, which dated back to 2003 when the first case arose in China. He also pointed out the problems of the trainee lawyers of both sides in analyzing the case and accordingly provided suggestions for improvement. The Presiding Arbitrator, Mr. Li Hongji, particularly emphasized in his summary the importance of expressiveness for legal practitioners He encouraged all trainee lawyers to strengthen their basic legal skills in both substance and procedure, to think carefully about legal issues, and to continuously improve their ability to deal with complex cases.
In the end, Ms. Chen Jianling, a specially invited commentator as well as Associate Professor of the School of Law of University of International Business and Economics, commented on the performance of both sides from a pedagogical perspective. Mr. Cui Xinmin, Deputy Director of the CIETAC Alternative Dispute Resolution Division, commented from the perspective of procedure management of arbitration institutions and encouraged trainee lawyers to participate in arbitration more in their future career.
The trainee lawyers expressed very positive responses to this training, saying that they not only obtained a direct understanding of foreign-related commercial arbitration, but also gained a deeper understanding on the role of lawyers in arbitration proceedings, which was conducive to their future work in helping the parties to resolve commercial disputes through arbitration.
