The UM Team (consisting of Joan Duhaylungsod, Max Tipp-McKnight and Wanyan Pan Jiang) won the Best Negotiation Strategy Award for the CDRC Mediation & Negotiation Competition - organized with the International Bar Association and the Vienna International Arbitral Centre - that took place back in July.
For whatever it is worth, I think it is interesting to note that while I was officially the “coach” of this team, I offered the team absolutely zero substantive guidance and possibly even less help on non-substantive matters. I note this - not to highlight my level of gross incompetence as a coach - but because I strongly believe that their accomplishment showcases the capabilities of our wonderful students, their devotion and pursuit to teach themselves (in the true spirit of PBL), and the level of independence to participate in a competition without any support from the staff (aside from the law faculty funding the registration fee, for which we are all very grateful for).
As a special treat for their fine accomplishment, the students were invited to attend the Netherlands Arbitration Institute’s General Meeting last week, where they had the chance to watch Brian King’s keynote at the Peace Palace in the Hague. A very special thank you to Bas van Zelst for arranging this!! Although Wanyan could not attend the event (and Guillaume Libbrecht, who participated in the UM v. Texas A&M Negotiation Event, got to go in her place), Wanyan will hopefully find some comfort in the fact that Bas and I assessed her Master’s Theis on implementing AI for decision-making in International Commercial Arbitration very highly!
All in all, this experience has reiterated my belief that while I think it is important to take the time to teach our students and to guide their development in a (somewhat) structured manner, it may equally be important to give - especially to our talented and motivated students - the space and the freedom to guide their own learning.
