Training and Events

Rules

1. Eligibility

1. Each law school is eligible to enter a team of two law students in the appropriate regional competition. Where an institution has undergraduate and post graduate courses a team may be entered from both the undergraduate and the postgraduate courses. The students may be undergraduates taking a law degree programme which includes the core subjects or postgraduate students who are undertaking full-time legal research or a CPE, LPC, BVC, BCL, masters course or a graduate Diploma in Law course. (1)
2. A student may take part in the competition on one occasion only (2). Additional teams may be entered pursuant to Rules 15 and 16 only.
3. To enter the competition the approval of the Head of the relevant law school must be obtained and a faculty member must agree to serve as an adviser (3)
4. There will be a non-returnable entry fee of £75 per team.

2. Communication
All communication concerning the competition will be by e-mail.(4)

3. The Competition

1. There will normally be regional heats (5) from which teams will go forward to the national final. The number of teams qualifying for the national final from each heat will depend upon the number of entries overall and the number of regional rounds. The Negotiation Competition Committee reserves the right not to hold regional heats. All the following rules relating to the number of participants and teams going forward to subsequent rounds should be read in the light of this provision. The number of teams qualifying from a regional round will be notified before the regional round takes place.
2. The Negotiation Competition Committee will divide participating schools into regions for the regional competitions.
3. The winners of the competition in any year will be expected to host the national competition the following year. The Negotiation Competition Committee, in consultation with the sponsors and the host convenor, will administer the national competition. The national finals may be videotaped.

4. Competition format

1. The regional competitions will consist of two concurrent rounds and the national competition will consist of three concurrent rounds. Each team will negotiate twice in the regional competitions. Normally 12 teams in total will go forward to the national competition. In the national competition each team will negotiate in all three rounds (6)
2. Each negotiation will consist of a 50-minute negotiation session, during which each team may take one break of no more than five minutes. The 50-minute period will continue during any such break. If the team calling the break specifically requests, both teams must leave the room during the break. At the end of the 50-minute period each team will have 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. The team with the letter designation closest to the beginning of the alphabet will go first in the self-analysis.
3. In order that the potential for disruption of the competition is limited to a minimum, faculty advisers and others electing to observe the negotiations must remain in the room until the end of the 50-minute negotiation. Observers will be required to leave on all occasions during the judges' deliberations and are referred to Rule 10 relating to permissible assistance.
4. Supplemental materials may be used by the participants. However, no supplemental materials prepared prior to the session may be used until each member of the opposing team has been given a complete copy of the materials. Supplemental materials, other than those used during the negotiation session, may not be introduced or used during the self-analysis portion of the competition. Only materials actually used during the negotiation may be shown to the judges. Participants are not required to show materials to the judges (7).
5. Judges will give feedback to both teams before the next negotiation.
6. Responsibility rests with the student participants for timekeeping and for adherence to allotted time periods and breaks. Decisions by the judges as to elapsed time are final and non-reviewable.

5. Distribution of materials

1. Approximately two weeks before the regional competition the common and confidential facts of each scenario will be distributed by e-mail. Each scenario will consist of: A common set of facts known by all participants and confidential information known only to the participants representing a particular side. Judges will have access to all scenario materials provided to participants.
2. Approximately two weeks before the national competition the common facts and confidential facts will be distributed by e-mail as for the regional competitions.

6. Self-analysis

Following the ten-minute preparation for self-analysis, each team will have ten minutes in which to analyse the team's performance in the negotiation. This will take place outside the presence of the opposing team. Students will begin this ten-minute period by answering, in the presence of the judges, the following questions:

• In reflecting on the entire negotiation, if you were to be faced with a similar situation tomorrow, what would you do the same and what would you do differently?
• How well did your strategy work in relation to the outcome?
• The team should also be prepared to respond to questions from the judges concerning the team's performance. In addition, the team may use this as an opportunity to explain why it chose a particular approach or even a specific tactic. The judges may take into consideration for scoring purposes anything said during this session.

7. Competition format and progress to the national competition

1. The competition consists of two concurrent rounds in the regional competitions and three concurrent rounds in the national final (8). [See Annex II for agreed pairings and scheme]. Notice of the schedule to be used in a regional competition must be given to all participating schools at least two weeks prior to the competition (9).
2. Where two teams from the same law school participate in a regional competition or the national competition they will always represent the same side and must negotiate the same scenario at the same time.
3. Only two teams from any one institution can proceed from the regionals to the national. In the event that three teams from one institution in a regional are placed among the highest scoring teams to qualify for the national competition, only the two highest placed teams will go forward and the next highest scoring team from an other institution will go forward instead.
4. In the event that either two undergraduate teams or two postgraduate teams from the same law school, who have participated pursuant to rules 15 or 16, are placed in the three highest scoring teams in the national competition, only the higher scoring of the two teams will be placed and the next highest scoring team from another law school will be placed instead.

8. Team briefing

1. Every effort will be made to ensure that the simulations and rules are clear. The competition convenor shall organise concurrent briefing sessions at the start of the competitions. All student participants representing a particular side should meet together and be given the opportunity to ask questions. This session should be held while the judges are being briefed. No one other than the student participants and person(s) conducting the briefing session will be permitted to attend. The competition convenor will have complete discretion in answering questions related to the simulation and rules. However, no new facts may be added to the simulations. Since teams representing each side will meet separately, if one group raises a question that exists in the general background information (i.e. the information known by both sides), the clarification will be communicated to the other group and to the judges. As in any negotiation session, the facts are subject to reasonable interpretation by the parties. Whether a team's interpretation is reasonable is not a matter that should be resolved by the person conducting the briefing. Questions of reasonableness of an interpretation are entirely within the discretion of the judges and are not reviewable.
2. Submission of inquiries relating to the simulated fact patterns in advance of the briefing must by e-mail. Under no circumstance will additional facts be provided, and inquiries will be accepted only if absolutely necessary - as determined by the Negotiation Competition Committee - to clarify a bonafide and fundamental question. In no event, however, will the Negotiation Competition Committee entertain a request for clarification unless received by e-mail by 3 p.m. on the date that is seven calendar days before the negotiation event.

9. Judges

1. Each round (consisting of two negotiation sessions in the regional competitions and three sessions in the national competition) will be observed and evaluated by a panel of three judges, at least two of whom must be lawyers. These judges will evaluate the performance of the participants according to the standards and criteria provided.
2. To the extent possible, the host school is responsible for selecting judges who are experienced and knowledgeable in negotiation skills. Any non-lawyers serving as judges must have negotiation experience.
3. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if there is an insufficient number of judges on the day of the competition, negotiations may be observed and evaluated by panels consisting of either two or three judges. If any negotiation in a round is observed and evaluated by a panel of two judges their scores will be averaged and added as a third set of marks for that round and will be entered on the score sheet in the column otherwise reserved for the scores awarded by the third judge.
4. Judges will be briefed before each round in conformity with the Negotiation Competition Instructions for Briefing Judges.

10. Permissable assistance

1. The faculty adviser may advise the team in its planning and preparation for all rounds of the competition.
2. No one, including faculty advisers, however, may give advice or instructions to, or attempt to communicate in any way with, any of the participants during the period from beginning of the participants' negotiation session to the completion of the self-analysis period for that negotiation session. Observers, faculty advisers and other persons identified with a participating team may only observe heats in which that school's team is participating.
3. No participant or other person identified with a participating team may attend a negotiation session of any other team, except a faculty adviser serving as a judge. Nor may the participants, faculty advisers, or any other person connected with a team communicate with another of its school's teams, if a school has more than one team entered in the competition, until all of the school's teams have completed all negotiations.
4. Where a faculty adviser is serving as a judge, s/he may not judge a heat containing a team from that adviser's school.
5. The mere act of communication, receipt of information, or attendance proscribed by this rule will constitute a breach of the rules, regardless of the substance thereof and regardless of whether initiated by a participant or by any other person. Breach of this rule will result in disqualification. (10)

11. Team identification and pairing

1. Each team will be assigned a letter by the national committee co-ordinator. If a judge asks a team member which school the team member represents, the member should respond that the rules do not allow that information to be given until the competition is completed. (11)
2. The competition pairings and scheme [see Annex II] is such that no team will negotiate directly against another team more than once. Where an institution has more than one team in the competition [see rules 1, 15 and 16] the national committee co-ordinator and the covenor shall ensure that both teams will conduct the same negotiation at the same time and the letter designations will be assigned accordingly.

12. Breaches of the Rules

1. Any breach of the rules that may affect the results will be resolved on the day of the competition by an appeals panel appointed by the competition convenor.
2. Competition participants and faculty advisers waive the right to appeal any matter arising in the course of a competition round if they fail to make a complaint before the end of the final judges' feedback period in the round in which the matter occurred.
3. The appeals panel will consist of at least one but not more than three faculty advisers and/or judges. No member of the appeals panel may be a person identified with a complaining school, the alleged offending school, or the school currently placed next behind the alleged offending school.
4. The appeals panel will not meet before conclusion of the regional competition and will only hear a complaint that has a bearing on the results of the competition.
5. In respect of issues that arise in the presence of the judges, the appeals panel has full discretion to determine whether to rank the offending team fourth in the heat of a regional competition, or sixth in a heat of the national competition or impose no penalty. The rankings of the other teams in that heat shall, when a penalty is imposed, be adjusted upwards accordingly.
6. The decision of the appeals panel is final.

13. Participant expenses

Travel, accommodation and incidental costs incurred by participants in the competitions will not be reimbursed by the Negotiation Competition Committee and will be the responsibility of the participants.

14. Host school expenses

1. A subsidy will be provided to help the schools hosting the regional heats defray the costs of holding the competition, providing refreshments during the day and a reception after the competition.
2. A subsidy will be provided to help the school hosting the national finals defray the costs of holding the competition, providing refreshments during the competition and a competition dinner.

15. Additional team: uneven number of registered teams

1. In the regional rounds, the competition convenor, in consultation with the Negotiation Competition Committee, may permit one or more additional eligible teams to participate in the competition if the number of teams registered does not equal a multiple of four. At the option of the competition convenor, such additional teams may represent any school participating in the competition, including the host school. Any additional team must otherwise qualify for participation in every respect; however, students competing for the same school should represent only one side of the negotiation scenario.
2. Where additional teams are needed so the national competition will have a number of teams equal to a multiple of six, the Negotiation Competition Committee, in its sole discretion, may allow additional team(s) to go forward.
3. Where a team qualifies for the national competition from a regional competition but is unable to participate in the national competition, the next ranked team in that region will qualify for the national competition.

16. Failure of registered team to appear on the day of the competition

There is always the possibility that because of illness or other emergency a team or one member of a team will not appear on the day of the competition. In this unlikely event:

1. The competition convenor will seek another registered team to split apart to compete as single person teams during that round of the competition. The number of teams required to split will be such as to achieve the next number equal to a multiple of four.
2. Only those teams representing the same side of a negotiation as the team that failed to appear will be eligible for participation as individuals. If more than one team volunteers, the team will be chosen at random. If no team volunteers, the team will be chosen at random from among all teams representing the side of the team that failed to appear.
3. In the event that a single-person team under this rule begins competing, the absent team forfeits. In the event that a single-person team under this rule qualifies for the national competition both team members will proceed to the national as a two person team.
4. In the case of a team which has qualified for the national competition and it becomes known that one member of the team will not be able to attend the national, a substitute may be used provided that the Negotiation Competition Committee has been notified in advance of the national competition.
5. In the case of a team where only one team member appears on the day of the competition and no substitute is available, that team will be considered to have forfeited and the rules that apply to total non-appearance shall prevail.

17. Scoring

In the regional competitions each panel of judges will observe four teams in any one round. Judges will rank the teams from one to four in order of effectiveness in the negotiating session. (See Rule 9 (iii) concerning an uneven number of judges on the panel in any round.) In the case of the regional competitions, the best ranking teams, i.e. those with the lowest cumulative ratings overall, (the number will depend upon the overall competition entry) will advance to the national finals, subject to Rule 7(iii). In the national competition the best ranking teams are those that have the lowest cumulative ratings overall after three rounds. The winning team, the second and third placed teams will be announced following calculation of the results (based on the score sheets from the judges in all three rounds and, if necessary, the application of Rule 7(iv)) at the competition dinner.

18. Tie-breaking procedure

1. If it is necessary to break a tie to determine the teams advancing to the national competition or determine the first-, second- and third- place rankings in the national competition, the tie will be broken by computing the team with the lowest total score on the seven scoring scales on the judges' score sheets, using only the score sheets of the teams involved in the tie.
2. If the tie breaking calculation still results in a tie, the winner will be determined from among those tied by choosing the team achieving the best (lowest) score in the OUTCOME OF THE SESSION category, calculated in accordance with the provisions of this rule.
3. If a tie still remains, the tie shall be broken by tossing a coin.

19. Prizes

1. All participants receive certificates of participation.
2. 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.  
3. 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.
4. Each member of the second and third placed teams will receive £75.
5. 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.

Notes for Participants' Guidance

(These numbers refer to the bracketed numbers within the Rules above.)

1. A School may select its entrants in any way it chooses. However, an internal school competition is highly recommended.
2. This applies even if the student previously represented a different institution.
3. The faculty adviser will be expected to be available to assist the competition by judging if required.
4. Communication. The administration of the competition will be, as far as possible, paperless. Apart from the entry forms, which should be printed off the website and sent with the entry fee to the administrator, all communications will be by e-mail. It is important that e-mail addresses for the faculty advisers are included on the entry form in order that distribution lists may be created for competition entrants. The sample scenarios, summary of the competition and the rules of the competition will be available on the website. The common facts of the scenarios will be published on the website.
5. Regional Hosts. The success of the regional competitions depends on the willingness of schools to act as hosts, either alone or in co-operation with a local Law Society or Bar or Law firm. It is expected that one of the schools qualifying for the national final will host a regional heat of the competition in the succeeding year. The Negotiation Competition Committee will liase with the school designated to host the competition in a particular region to ensure that administrative tasks are understood. The school, firm or other organisation assuming administrative responsibility will be provided with a Negotiation Regional Competition Administrative Guide. In addition, each convenor will be assigned a Negotiation Competition Committee member who will be available as a consultant and adviser to the competition convenor.
   If the procedure outlined above results in a disparate burden falling on particular schools within a given region (e.g. because teams from these schools qualify for the national finals of the competition several years in a row), the Negotiation Competition Committee has the discretion to invite another school to host or co- host the competition in a given year. In issuing this invitation, schools that have participated in the competition for the longest time without hosting the competition will be considered the primary candidates.
6. All teams who reach the national finals will for the year 2004/5 participate in all three heats which will be concurrent - see Annex II for diagrammatic format. The teams are allocated to a Pool, either A or B, thus:
   
   

   Pool A	Pool B
   A,B,C,G,H & I	D,E,F,J,K & L

   
   Each team has a twin (A/D, B/E, C/F, G/J, H/K & I/F) on the same side and with an identical schedule but in the other Pool so with no opponents in common. Allocating teams to pools enables the three heats to take place concurrently and so complete the competition in one day, followed by the competition dinner.
7. The purpose of this rule is to prevent any one side giving materials to the judges, which they do not also give to the other side. Supplemental materials do not include plans, notes etc made for participants' own use.
8. Concurrent, as opposed to consecutive rounds, enable teams attending the regional competition to do so without having to stay overnight; in the national competition this should limit any overnight stay to one night only.
9. See Annex I for the competition schedule.
10. See Rule 12 for procedures. Innocent mistake will not be a defence to a complaint based on breach of this rule; even casual exchanges unrelated to the substance of the negotiation will be considered as cheating.
11. Host schools should endeavour to avoid any appearance of unfairness resulting from hosting the regional or national competition. It is recommended that a host school faculty adviser, who would be readily identifiable by the judges, avoids letting the judges know to which team the faculty adviser is connected.

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