Law students enter mediation competition in Paris
Left to Right: Senior Lecturer Grant Morris with students Georgia Cameron and William Steel.
For the first time, Victoria University of Wellington’s Faculty of Law will be represented in the annual International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Commercial Mediation Competition.
Two students, Georgia Cameron and William Steel, are winging their way to Paris this week to compete against 65 other teams. The competition, now in its 10th year, is the world’s only moot devoted exclusively to international commercial mediation.
The contest will involve 120 mediators and corporate representatives from five continents and more than 40 countries. Each university competes in at least four preliminary round mediations, after which the competition enters a knock-out phase.
The students will be accompanied by their coach Dr Grant Morris, a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law, who runs a third-year dispute resolution course. Georgia and William were outstanding participants in Dr Morris’ class last year.
“The course includes a practical element in mediation as well as theory so part of the preparation was already done,” says Dr Morris.
As well as regular practice mediations with Dr Morris, the students have received support from some of Wellington’s leading mediators, including Geoff Sharp, who was voted New Zealand Mediator of the Year by the New Zealand legal profession at the 2012/2013 Law Awards, and Annabel Shaw, a mediator for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
“We’ve been very lucky to have these fantastic practitioners around Wellington who’ve been more than willing to give up their time after work,” says Georgia.
After weeks of hard work, William feels they are as ready as they’ll ever be.
“We just want to go over there and focus on enjoying it now,” says Georgia.
William is a final year student studying for an LLB (Hons) and BCom degree majoring in economics and finance, and Georgia will complete her LLB and BA degree in politics this year.
The team has received financial support from Fairway Resolution and the Association of Dispute Resolvers (LEADR).