South Texas College of Law wins ICC Mediation Competition

South Texas beat off competitors Bar Ilan University (Israel), in ICC’s most challenging mediation competition to date.

The two schools thrilled an international audience of over 250 people in the Competition final, which took place at the Maison du Barreau in Paris yesterday.

Geoff Sharp, a leading commercial mediator from New Zealand, who regularly mediates large international commercial disputes, mediated the final and showcased some of the interventions top class mediators use to facilitate the parties’ settlement discussions.

“The Competition has been a wonderful experience for our team,” said Hadas Livni, Coach for the Bar Ilan team. “The educational value has been enormous. We had the opportunity to learn from leading mediators and scholars, receive their comments and improve our skills.

“Meeting students and professionals from around the globe, and encountering different cultures, opinions and mediation styles is not only eye opening but also a lot of fun. We feel that the Competition will lead us on in our future, and hope that skills acquired and friendships that have been made will stay with us in the many years to come.”

Featuring over 140 mock mediation sessions, based on real cross-border commercial disputes, the Competition tested the problem solving skills of 66 teams from 32 countries including teams from Brazil, Singapore, the United States and Australia.

The aim of the annual competition is to train law and business students to better meet the dispute resolution needs of today’s global market, to know how and when to efficiently use mediation and how to deal with the cultural sensitivities implied in this process. It gives students an opportunity to test their problem-solving skills in international commercial cases in which they take the role of client and counsel while some of the world’s leading mediators participate to help the students work towards good solution.

Elayne Greenberg, Coach for a team from St. John’s University School of Law, USA, and Director of the Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution concluded: “ICC made sure that their guests left the 7th Annual International Mediation Competition with the gifts of life lessons and memories of a time well-spent. The participating teams left with invaluable lessons about the importance of collegiality, an expanded knowledge of advocacy skills and an optimism about their future contributions as lawyers in our global community.”

For further information, please contact:
Ana Sylvia Prado
Deputy Manager, ICC International Centre for ADR
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