Training and Events

The negotiation competition

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As well as providing an opportunity for law students to practice and improve their negotiation skills, the competition also offers:

• Certificate of participation for all students entering the competition
• A free one-day advanced negotiation skills seminar, provided by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), for all students who qualify for the national finals
• Cash prizes for the winners and runners-up in the national finals
• A travel grant to enable the national winners to represent England and Wales in the International Negotiation Competition

The Competition is open to all law schools in England and Wales. 

Background
Most disputes in which lawyers are involved do not end up in the courts.  Instead they are settled by way of some form of compromise between the parties - a negotiated agreement.  Lawyers are also often asked to advise on the way deals or transactions are set up - for example, what are the most favourable terms, what would be the best price, what penalties can be included for breach of contract? Getting the best deal for the client can often involve some skilful negotiation.

Learning the skills involved in negotiating has recently become part of legal skills programmes in many Law Schools in England and Wales.  Workshops are run to give students an opportunity to identify the principles of negotiation and to acquire and practice negotiation skills, usually in the context of the substantive law courses that they are following such as contract, commercial law, company law, employment law or family law.  The Bar Vocational Course for barristers includes elements on negotiation.  The skills of negotiation also form part of the trainee solicitors' legal skills courses after they have completed the Legal Practice Course.  

Format
A law school may enter up to two teams in the competition, each team consisting of two students who may be at undergraduate or graduate level.  Each institution selects its team in whichever way it chooses – many hold internal competitions.

There are initial regional competitions from which a total of twelve teams proceed to a national final.  The winner of the national final is then eligible to go forward to represent England and Wales in the international competition. 

There are two negotiating rounds in the regional competitions, and three in the national final.  Occasionally there are three- or four-way negotiations, but the most common format of each round is that a team of two law students representing a party/client negotiates either a transaction or the resolution of a dispute with an opposing team of two students.   Typically, each round consists of a 50 minute negotiation session. At the end of the 50 minute period each team has a ten minute period to analyse their performance in private and a ten minute self-analysis period (ten minutes per team) in the presence of the judges.

For each round, participating teams receive, in advance, both a common set of facts and confidential information known only to the particular side they are representing.

Judging
Each round is judged by a panel of three judges.  Judges are chosen to be independent of the teams they are judging, and as a further precaution participating teams in each heat are identified only by a letter rather than by the name of the institution they are representing.

The judging criteria require the judges to address the following:

• the apparent preparedness of a team
• its flexibility in deviating from plans or adapting a strategy
• the outcome
• teamwork
• relationship between the negotiating teams
• ethics
• the self-analysis.

Prizes
All participants receive certificates of participation.

The twelve qualifying teams from the regional competitions are eligible to attend a one-day Advanced Negotiation Skills course provided by trainers from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution.  

The winners will receive a trophy to be held in their Law School until the next competition and each member of the winning team will receive £250.

Each member of the second and third placed teams will receive £75.

The winners of the competition will also be invited to represent England and Wales in The International Negotiation Competition; their Law School will receive a £750 travel grant to enable them to represent England and Wales.

The International Negotiation Competition

The format of the International Competition is similar to that of the national competition and provides an excellent opportunity for all the student participants, the faculty advisers and judges to take legal education just one step further. For more details about the International Competition go to www.law-competitions.com  

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