Registration is now open. Register here!
Regional competitions will be held in person and virtually.
2024-2025 Topic: (coming soon!)
Congratulations to the 2023-2024 mediation National Champions—Texas Tech University School of Law: Caden Jackson and Caleb Kunde. Full results»
The competition introduces law student participants to the challenges of representing clients in mediation.
The judging criteria reward those participants who use an effective combination of (i) advocacy and (ii) problem-solving. Advocacy in mediation means that lawyers should advocate for their client’s interests with the mediator.
Problem-solving in mediation means that the negotiating attorneys must learn about each other’s clients’ interests and BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement), use objective standards, brainstorm options, and select and shape a solution that meets their interests.
Participants must balance their clients’ interests with the goal of achieving an effective settlement.
Each team must choose a main contact. The team’s main contact will be the point of contact with the ABA. The team and the main contact understand that the main contact will receive all communication from the ABA regarding the competition(s), including Regional Assignments and the Problem. The ABA encourages teams to select a faculty member and/or team Coach who will be responsible for important details to the rest of the team. The main contact is responsible for sharing all communication with the team. The ABA is not responsible for missed emails. The ABA is also not responsible for ensuring that the main contact shares all communication with the team.
Competition Judges are provided detailed scoring criteria to use when evaluating the teams’ performances.
The competition is open to all full-time and part-time law students enrolled in ABA approved (or Canadian LSAC-member) law schools during the semester the competition is held. Students enrolled in joint degree programs (JD/MA, JD/MBA, etc.) who have not graduated from law school and are enrolled in the joint program for the semester are eligible. LLM, MJ, or other non-JD students are eligible for the competition, provided their initial law degree graduation date was no longer than twelve months before the competition registration deadline.
All student competitors must be ABA Law Student Division Premium members to be eligible to compete. Premium membership is $25. Join Now.
To be eligible to register teams in the competition, the law school must have hosted within the last five (5) years or have formally agreed with the ABA in writing to host within the next two (2) years.
