We are happy to introduce the new Vis Moot team of 2023-2024 representing the Université de Fribourg - Universität Freiburg at the 31 Vis Moot! From left to the right: Véra Bykova (coach), Yaelle Lohner Hutzli (MLaw1), Fabian Widmer (MLaw 1) and Kseniia Zhyhalova (LLM).
Willem C. Vis Moot is the most prestigious international legal competition in commercial law and arbitration, also known as the “Olympic Games for Law Students”, reuniting around 400 universities from both common law and civil law jurisdictions.
Coming from different backgrounds and cantons, speaking over a dozen languages if we count them all together, our Team is ready to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure – we wish them best of luck!
Yaelle Lohner Hutzli is currently in her first year of the MLaw at the University of Fribourg.
She speaks English, Spanish, French, German and Swiss German.
Fun fact: due to having three sisters, she is able to persuade anyone into doing anything.
Fabian Widmer is in his first semester of the bilingual (French – German) Master’s degree at the University of Fribourg. He sees his participation in the Willem C. Vis Moot Court as a unique opportunity to put his theoretical knowledge into practice by working on a complex case together with the team. Furthermore, he believes strongly that his participation in the Willem C. Vis Moot Court will provide him with valuable experience that will be of great benefit to him in his future professional life.
In his free time he enjoys outdoors activities such as running, skiing and mountain climbing.
Kseniia Zhyhalova is an LL.M. student in International Business Law at the University of Fribourg. Ms. Zhyhalova worked as a trainee in a leading Swiss independent full-service business law firm with offices in Bern Muri and Zürich. Kseniia holds her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in law with honors in Ukraine. Her mother tongue is Ukrainian. She is fluent in English, German, and Russian.
Véra Bykova is a Solicitor of England & Wales and holds an LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS) from the University of Geneva and the Geneva Graduate Institute.
She participated in Willem C. Vis Moot in Vienna (2018) as part of the Higher School of Economics team that became the Champion of the competition (1st place out of 362 teams) after having prevailed in all preliminary and elimination rounds.
Véra also holds an award of Honorable Mention Advocate (best oralist) of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Moot, in which her team reached Quarter-Finals in Stockholm (2018) and Miami (2019) and received the awards of Best Memorandum on Damages Valuation and Best Memorandum for Respondent. Earlier on, she took part in the Philip C. Jessup moot court as part of the MGIMO University team that reached Quarter-Finals in Washington D.C. (2017).
In her free time, Véra enjoys studying Swiss law: she is currently pursuing a Bachelor's in Swiss law degree.
