NLSIU wins HK International ADR Mooting Competition; NLU D gets best Orator, GNLU gets best Mediator

The team from National Law School of India University (NLSIU) recently won the International ADR Mooting Competition held at City University, Hong Kong. The Indian team, consisting of Priyanka Madan, Mansi Sood (arbitrators) and Harshvardhan Goel (mediator), defeated Murdoch University in the final founds. Priyanka was also awarded the Best Oralist in the final rounds..A total of twenty-five teams participated in the competition, with Indian students winning a number of awards. NLU, Delhi’s Tanima Tandon won the Professor T. Houzi Award for Best Mediator, while GNLU’s Rumani Seth won the Best Mediator Award in the general rounds..Bar & Bench spoke to Mansi Sood from the winning team on her experience at the competition. (Excerpts below).B&B: What made you choose this particular moot?.Mansi Sood: We are allotted moots and negotiation competitions in college after an internal selection process. In the internal negotiation rounds, Priyanka and I had secured Rank 1. However, we also had other mooting commitments earlier in the year and since this fitted in nicely with those, we thought that this would be a good opportunity for us, especially since our law school had never taken part in this competition before..B&B: What was the preparation phase like?.MS: We prepared pretty much the way all moot teams prepare – initially we researched and submitted written memorials. Subsequently, we focused on practicing our oral arguments for both arbitration and mediation. We specifically focused on ensuring that our arguments were practical, commercial and simple to understand instead of law-heavy. I think this was also our biggest strength because the practical nature of our submissions struck a chord with the arbitrators and mediators..B&B: How would you rate the competition?.MS: The competition was good, there were some great teams and the quality of judging was also excellent, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. There were a total of 25 teams and we faced 4 teams in the preliminary rounds. I think our toughest round was the final round itself, not just because the opposing team (Murdoch University) was outstanding but also because there was all the pressure associated with the final, in addition to a panel of 5 arbitrators! But I think we also enjoyed the final the most because the quality of the round was very high and the panel asked some very difficult questions which we had fun answering..B&B: Any special moments that you would like to share?.MS: There were lots of special moments but the one I remember specifically is right after we were announced as winners. It was quite exhilarating!