Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow (RMLNLU) recently conducted its 1^st National Mediation Competition on January 14 & 15, 2012. The two-day event saw the presence of legal luminaries including judges of the Delhi and Allahabad High Court and the participation of twenty-two law schools from across the country.

The competition was organized by the Legal Aid Committee of RMLNLU. Legal Aid Committee Member, Deepshikha Sharma spoke to Bar & Bench and explained the manner in which the competition was conducted.

Teams of two were given the facts and circumstances of a particular dispute whose subject matter ranged from contractual to professional relationships. The team could discuss this problem for fifteen minutes. After this, the team would be introduced to their “clients” (students of RMLNLU) who would be the parties to the dispute. The entire group would then sit before the bench of judges.

Over the course of the next forty minutes, the team would have to act as mediators for the parties and aim to resolve the dispute in as amicable a manner as possible. The team would then be judged on the manner and techniques adopted by the team.

Sharma explains that the idea behind this competition arose from the Legal Aid Committee’s interaction with various child care homes in Lucknow. Appalled by the sub-par conditions in which these children existed, the Legal Aid Committee sought to file a petition before the High Court. It was during this process that they realized that litigation can often be a time-consuming affair. They began to talk with the child home authorities, sought out their problems and then eventually arrived at a mutually beneficent solution.

It was this success at arriving at an “out of court” settlement that prompted the Legal Aid Committee to organize the Mediation Competition. Richa Tyagi and Anushree Bardhan  from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University were declared the winners of the competition with Richay Tyagi also winning the prize for best mediator.

This competition is an interesting departure from the events which law students normally participate in and the Legal Aid Committee of RMLNLU has definite plans to hold similar competitions in the near future.