On 3-5 November 2025, the preliminary rounds of the 2025 UPICC International Arbitration Moot Competition were successfully held in Shanghai, China. The competition was co-organised by UNIDROIT Asian Transnational Law Centre (ATLC) and the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Commission / Shanghai International Arbitration Centre (SHIAC).
The UPICC Moot was developed to promote the informed use of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UPICC) in international arbitration and to cultivate a new generation of practitioners with strong transnational advocacy skills grounded in this modern normative framework.
The preliminary round of the UPICC Arbitration Moot brought together a diverse group of participants from across the region, underscoring its growing role as a platform for regional engagement. Of the 39 teams that registered for the Moot competition, 26 advanced to the preliminary round, representing 10 Asian countries. Over 3 days of intense competition, these teams showcased their advocacy skills before an international panel of experts. Nearly 150 participants took part in the event, which was presided over by around 70 distinguished arbitrators from across Asia and beyond.
The preliminary rounds received highly positive feedback from participants and institutional partners. Through intensive competition rounds, detailed arbitrator feedback, and inter-team academic exchanges, the event significantly increased awareness and practical understanding of the UPICC among young legal professionals, enhanced UNIDROIT’s visibility as a reference institution for transnational commercial law, and fostered new collaborative opportunities with regional arbitration centres and academic institutions.
The inaugural edition attracted substantial media attention across the Asian-Pacific region, with relevant reports and posts reaching a total online readership exceeding 500,000 views. This broad and positive coverage greatly enhanced UNIDROIT’s profile in Asia, reinforcing its reputation as a global leader in private law harmonisation and as a key partner in international legal education.
Professor Anna Veneziano, UNIDROIT Deputy Secretary-General, Professor Meiling Huang, Principal Legal Officer and Co-Director of the ATLC, and Mr. William Brydie-Watson, Senior Legal Officer and Co-Director of the ATLC, participated in the competition as arbitrators.
The Shanghai round concluded with an award ceremony on 5 November, during which Prof. Veneziano congratulated participants on the successful completion of this inaugural edition. She highlighted that the competition not only serves as a valuable platform to demonstrate the practical application of UPICC which provides a comprehensive framework for resolving cross-border contractual disputes, but also paves the way for their deeper integration into arbitral practice.
Professor Meiling Huang, Principal Legal Officer and Co-Director of the ATLC, expressed her heartfelt appreciation to all participants, arbitrators, and the co-organiser, SHIAC, for their invaluable contributions to the success of the event. She noted that, although organising the inaugural edition presented unique challenges, it nonetheless achieved remarkable results, setting a strong foundation for future editions of the competition and further collaboration between UNIDROIT and its partners in Asia.
During the event, participants also had the opportunity to learn more about the work of UNIDROIT and its engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. William Brydie-Watson, Senior Legal Officer and Co-Director of the Asian Transnational Law Centre (ATLC), introduced the Centre and highlighted its role in advancing UNIDROIT’s mission in Asia. He noted that, through targeted translations and international initiatives, the ATLC promotes key UNIDROIT instruments across the region, including UPICC and the Cape Town Convention, thereby fostering dialogue, strengthening understanding, and supporting practical steps toward private law harmonisation.
The competition now moves to its next phase, with the top four teams from the preliminary round advancing to the semi-final and final rounds at UNIDROIT headquarters in Rome in January 2026.
Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.