Students from Fordham Law’s Dispute Resolution Society (DRS) attended a competition hosted by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) on April 3, competing against 17 teams from across the world, including countries like India, Brazil, and Kenya.
CPR is a nonprofit organization that “advocates for a global prevention and dispute resolution culture” and whose members include law firms, academics, and mediators. The CPR competition has been held since 2017 with the goal of providing “a unique opportunity for students to learn and practice mediation and negotiation skills.”
Despite the fact that it was the first time a Fordham DRS team entered the CPR competition, the team performed remarkably well. Grace Brennan ’23, Libby Burke ’23, Steph Diu ’23, and Daobo Wang ’23, reached the quarterfinals of the mediation competition, and Brennan and Wang placed third overall for best counsel. Alyssa Sanders ’23 also came in second place, overall, for the “best mediators” section.
“I am incredibly proud of the five [competitors],” says team coach Pamela White ’22. “No matter what the result had been, I would have been extremely proud, because I saw the hours they put into it and the time and dedication,” said White. “But I was absolutely thrilled to see that hard work recognized by the judges at CPR.”
Because it was their first time at the competition, the team did not have the same experience and resources they usually have when going into a competition. “It was a bit of a challenge being the first person to go to this competition and leading the team,” White said. “We watched a lot of old rounds, trying to see what skills seem to be highly awarded there, and looked at old problems.”
After receiving their topic four weeks out from the competition, the team combed through the details of the case, which involved cryptocurrency and cryptomining. From there, they discussed and analyzed the problems and mooted against each other to work through them.
Teams were composed of two attorneys, two clients, and one mediator, as well as five bench members—Ronald Britt II ’23, Nico Corti ’23, Eric Hechler ’23, Marc Osian ’23, and Leila Witcher ’23.
For Sanders, who played the role of mediator, the CPR event was her first dispute resolution competition ever, and allowed her to practice new skills.
“A large part of it is getting people to come to a place where they can recognize each other’s needs and find solutions that address them, or at least potential solutions,” said Sanders. “I was really proud of myself, in that I was able to be there in a supportive way, but also allow both sides to really communicate and be the center of the attention.”
The competition also provided students with some unique experiences, including a mediation training and panel discussions from internationally-renowned mediators on current topics and interest areas, which provided students the opportunity to network and learn more about the field.
Due to the international nature of the competition, students also had the opportunity to interact with lawyers from diverse legal backgrounds. “People in other countries have different ways of interacting with the legal system,” said Sanders. “There were [opportunities to]not only learn how to build relationships, but to learn how to build relationships within different cultural contexts.”