In early March 2020, the Jagiellonian University Mediation Team, consisting of Marta Nawrocka, Elżbieta Schulz, Antoni Otałęga, and Michał Żyłka, won this year’s INADR International Law School Mediation Tournament – the oldest such tournament in the world. In Chicago the students of the Jagiellonian University Faculty of Law and Administration outperformed 58 teams from all over the world.
The INADR International Law School Mediation Tournament was held for the 19th time. So far, the INADR (International Academy of Dispute Resolution) tournaments involved about 800 teams from around 50 countries.
“The competition consisted in simulating a mediation process, which featured two mediators running a co-mediation session, and two pairs of negotiators taking the roles of a lawyer and a client. The participants were supposed to solve a dispute based on facts available before the tournament as well as confidential information disclosed to them one hour before the session. Besides mediation and negotiation skills, the competitors had to use their knowledge of legal regulations and institutions”, explained Antoni Otłęga, one of the JU team members.
The Tournament was held at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. After three prequalifying rounds, which featured 58 teams, the JU students found themselves among 16 teams that competed in the semi-final, finally advancing to the final, in which they faced teams from the United States, India, Canada, and Ireland. Finally, the JU team took first place in the Advocate/Client category, as well as sixth place in the Mediator category. Their success resulted from several months of preparations under the supervision of the distinguished JU Faculty of Law alumni Agnieszka Góra and Jacek Czaja.
“For over ten years, students of the Faculty of Law and Administration have taken part in a number of international competitions in the field of mediation, negotiation, as well as international trade and investment arbitration. Their common feature is that they all promote the means of so-called extrajudicial dispute resolution among students. The skills acquired by the participants are useful for their future professional career”, said the Dean of the JU Faculty of Law Prof. Jerzy Pisuliński.
This has not been the only such success recently achieved by JU Law students in the field of mediation. In February they took third place in the international economic mediation competition organised by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. These successes earned the JU Faculty of Law and Administration recognition as an important centre for education in extrajudicial dispute resolution.
