International Negotiations Competition

National Director of International Negotiations Competition
Deyaska Spencer
North Carolina Central University Law School
internationalcompetition@nblsa.org

This upcoming year will mark the 6th Annual NBLSA International Negotiations Competition. The Negotiations Competition will be held at the NBLSA National Convention in Washington, DC from March 7 - 11, 2012.

The NBLSA International Negotiations Competition (INC) is the only non-litigation based competition offered by our organization, providing students with a unique opportunity to development useful negotiation skills, while creating awareness of important global issues.

Each participant collaborates with a classmate from their law school, forming two person teams to negotiate a cross-border conflict based on current issues in our global community. After participating in a student-led negotiation lasting 50 minutes, where each team strives to obtain the best results for their client, students receive constructive feedback from legal practitioners and law professors who serve as judges. Moreover, students are exposed to differences in negotiating styles, various ethical and social norms, and a broad spectrum of business issues, all coupled with the enhanced difficulties of cross-cultural communication.

Competition Improvements

In keeping with NBLSA's tradition of serving the needs of its membership, the International Negotiations Competition Team has exciting new changes to help improve the competition. The following changes have been made to improve the efficiency of the competition and provide students with an enhanced experience that will help strengthen important legal advocacy skills:

• All official INC registration materials and competition guidelines will be centrally located on the NBLSA INC webpage.
• An official procedure has been incorporated into the competition rules for competitors to submit substantive questions regarding the competition problems and receive answers in advance of the competition.
• The competition schedule has been restructured to provide students with adequate time to prepare for each round, while also enabling competitors to participate in as many National Convention panels, luncheons, forums, and social events as possible.
• All judges will receive uniform training and preparation before the competition to promote consistency of judging and fairness in each negotiation session.
• All teams will be provided with their completed score sheets at the end of the competition.
• The competition will incorporate new and exciting incentives for school participation, including new prizes for winners.