Portsmouth Business School
Law students raise the bar
Thu, Feb 25, 2010
The Negotiation Competition, now in its eleventh year, demonstrates the skill of negotiation in Britain's future lawyers, a crucial component in practising law. It is sponsored by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and sees teams of students use their persuasive skills to negotiate complex disputes.
Two teams consisting of third years, Alexander Brown and Lynsey Pitt, and first years Jack Lloyd and Robert Dalford, all studying LLB Law, competed against 20 teams in the southern regional heat to win a place in the final next month.
Alexander said: “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. So negotiation skills are fundamental for lawyers and this competition is a great opportunity to practise them.
“It is essential to know what each party wants when negotiating. Imagine two brothers are squabbling over an orange before their mother intervenes and cuts the orange in half. If one boy wanted the orange for juice and the other wanted the peel for a cookery class the solution hasn’t satisfied either.
“It’s all about getting the best result for your client so competing in this competition will prepare us brilliantly for the world of work.”
In one of the heats Alexander and Lynsey represented a Historical Society who had burnt down a marina and castle when they re-created the Battle of Trafalgar. They were negotiating with a team representing the City Council.
Alexander said: “We had to work out if the incident was an accident or whether the society had been negligent and then negotiate the overall settlement. It really tested how Lynsey and I work together as we had to be quite tactical – you are given facts to work with, but they can be deal-breakers or red herrings.”
The University Law Society organised its own internal negotiation competition, sponsored by law firm Blake Lapthorn, to identify contenders to put forward for the regional heats. The internal competition also included training by last year’s national finalists, Sean Campbell and Thomas Storey.
Caroline Strevens, Head of the School of Law, said that this is the second year running Portsmouth students have entered the competition and secured a place in the final.
She said: “It is especially impressive that both our teams have won through to the final, which is something that has rarely happened in this competition before. “The skills the students have to demonstrate in the competition are relevant whatever their future careers and are highly regarded by employers. It’s a fantastic training ground.
“It is also excellent to see two first year undergraduates competing. They have only been studying at the university for a few months so to see them reach the final is a tremendous achievement.”
The two Portsmouth teams will compete in the final which takes place on 27 March at London Bloomsbury College of Law, which is hosting the event after a team from their law school won the competition in 2009. The winner of this year’s competition will compete in an international competition in California and host the final of the national competition in 2010.
As part of their preparation for the final the students will also attend a Negotiating Training day delivered by the event’s sponsor, the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in London later this month.