The China qualifying round of the Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot (FDI Moot), organized by the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA), will be held in July this year. SCIA sincerely invites you to serve as an arbitrator for FDI Moot Shenzhen 2026 and share your valuable experience with the participating teams!

I. Competition Information

FDI Moot Shenzhen 2026 will simulate part of the real procedure of an international investment arbitration case: teams have to submit a Skeleton Brief in advance and then argue specific legal issues in English during Oral Hearings. For each hearing, SCIA will appoint three experienced arbitrators to constitute an arbitral tribunal, which will assess and score participating teams on their argumentation, legal expression and debating capabilities.

The Oral Hearings of this year's competition will be divided into two rounds:

1. Online Preliminary Round: 18 to 19 July 2026

The hearings will be conducted via Zoom, with remote access for both arbitrators and teams. Training for arbitrators will be provided before the oral hearings.

18/19 July 2026

09:00 - 11:00

13:00 - 15:00

16:00 - 18:00

2. In-Person Elimination Round: 25 to 26 July 2026

The hearings will be held at the SCIA Tower. Both arbitrators and teams are required to come to Shenzhen to attend in person. 

25 July 2026

09:30 - 11:30

15:30 - 17:30

26 July 2026

By Invitation Only

II. Arbitrator Qualification Requirements

1. Basic Requirements

(1) Practising lawyers, experts, scholars, arbitrators and other practitioners who have been practising in the field of international arbitration for not less than 2 years; 

(2) Fluent in English as a working language.

2. Priority Consideration

(1) Practitioners with relevant experience in the field of international investment arbitration;

(2) Practitioners with experience in moot competitions;

(3) Practitioners who have served as arbitrators for English-language moot competitions;

(4) Practitioners who have served as arbitrators in real cases;(5) Practitioners who are willing to serve as alternate arbitrators for this year’s competition.

3. Special Requirements for the In-Person Elimination Rounds

(1) Have more than 6 years of relevant working experience;

(2) May come to Shenzhen to participate in the moot in person (related expenses will be borne by the arbitrators themselves).

As FDI Moot Shenzhen 2026 is a qualifying event, the score of the arbitrators will directly determine whether the teams are qualified to advance to the Asia-Pacific Round and the Global Round, so the professionalism and ability of the arbitrators to perform their duties are crucial to the moot court.

We sincerely welcome all colleagues to participate in this year's moot, act as arbitrators, comment on the participating teams and share some practical experience. We will issue certificates to the arbitrators after the moot.

If you are interested, please scan the QR code below. Click here to get the Arbitrator Registration Instructions.

If you need to refer to the 2026 problems and the rules of the FDI Moot Shenzhen 2026, please scan the QR code below.

III. Introduction to the FDI Moot and FDI Moot Shenzhen 2026

The Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot (FDI Moot), together with the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot and the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, is known as the "World's Three Greatest Moot Competitions". The competition is divided into a global competition and regional/national competitions,  sharing the same case problem and materials. Teams are required to pass the regional/national competitions to qualify for the global competition.

The "FDI Moot Shenzhen" is the only opportunity for Chinese teams to advance to the global competition. It is exclusively organised by SCIA and has been continuously held for 6 years. Last year, the event attracted nearly 44 teams and received strong support from 24 international organisations (including well-known overseas arbitration institutions) as well as 11 renowned law firms. More than 200 arbitrators from over 30 countries and regions acted as arbitrators for the event, garnering highly positive feedback.

IV. Contact Us  

If you have any questions about the moot arrangements, scope of recruitment, registration of arbitrator, qualification requirements, etc., please feel free to contact FDIMootSZ_Panel@scia.com.cn.

Organizer: Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA).