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12th ICC Mediation Competition (ICCMC) 2017 Experience Report

After having gone through the rigorous selection process which included various interviews, we were happy to find ourselves on the team to represent the Philipps-Universität Marburg in the ICCMC. Although shortly afterwards one of our team members dropped out, we were more than happy to welcome Emmanuel and to grow quickly as a team. We dove directly into elaborating business conflicts and learning about basic principles of mediation. Taking into consideration various alternative processes, we learnt why mediation is such an important and helpful dispute resolution method. The short explanation is that it tends to be faster, cheaper and more constructive. Instead of bringing your case to court or to an arbitrator, you have the chance to get into a room with the other party and develop a constructive dialogue, thereby focusing on shared goals and interests which significantly increases the likelihood of reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.

Starting with our first practise case, we quickly discovered how well we complemented each other due to our differing backgrounds that provided us with great opportunities to consider various aspects of the case and to elaborate them accordingly. Emmanuel, having worked in his family’s business for years, never forgot to emphasise the importance of commercial practicability whereas Theresa kept track of our legal positions, possibilities and risks. While Lena proved her gift for good communication and writing skills, Lisa organised the team meetings and came up regularly with creative solutions.

After having practised several former mediation competition cases among us, it was already time for our first pre-moot in Hamburg, which was also our first opportunity to practise with/against teams of other universities. Being quite nervous, we used the train ride for final revisions and were happy to get a good nights sleep in our accommodation, which was close to the venue and the centre of Hamburg. The weekend was a great experience as we now had a better understanding of what to expect in Paris and what would be expected from us. The feedback we got from various professionals was extremely helpful in order to work on some weaknesses. Furthermore, we had the chance to get to know teams from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Ukraine and Denmark and spend some time with them at the Christmas market.

Soon after, we got notice from the ICC: The Paris cases had finally arrived! Immediately we sat down to study them and use the opportunity to ask clarifying questions to the ICC organizing committee. Meanwhile, we continued with our practise sessions getting more used to the setting and improving our mediation and negotiation skills. Luckily, we got support from various sides: Mr. Bauckmann, a professional lawyer and mediator, agreed to mediate two of our practise sessions. Our coaches also organised a speech training with two students studying speech science, who helped us to improve nuances of expression, such as volume, clarity, melody, gestures and posture.

Due to the Christmas break, the upcoming deadlines for submitting the mediation plans for Paris and the second pre-moot in Hanover, January was a very busy month for us. At times, it was difficult to meet up multiple times per week, whilst not letting other university obligations slide. Nevertheless, through good communication and efficient team work, we managed to meet all deadlines. This was also only possible with the amazing support of our coaches and Reinmar Wolff, who revised our plans and met up with us repeatedly and who were always quick at answering any questions we asked per email.

After having submitted the final mediation plans for the preliminary rounds in Paris, we immediately prepared the cases for the pre-moot in Hannover. Again it was a great experience to meet with the teams we already knew and to get to know the Ukrainian team who we would see again in Paris, and of course, to practise, get feedback and improve our mediation skills.

Finally, we had the chance to fully focus on the upcoming main competition in Paris which was coming up surprisingly fast. Thus, we were busy preparing our opening statements, handouts and tactics. In the final week before the competition, Patrik Mähling, a professional mediator from the University of Gießen, agreed to mediate our final practise session and gave us some tips using his experience from previous competitions.

In February, we finally started our journey to Paris. We easily found our accommodation, a small AirBnB flat in the heart of Paris, where we would eat, sleep and prepare for the following week. Right at the opening ceremony we had the chance to meet many team members from all over the world competing at the ICC who were just as excited as we were. Additionally, it was already a great opportunity to meet some of the professionals who would judge and mediate sessions during the competition. In the following three days we played four mediation sessions which we utterly enjoyed. Especially the Singaporean team gave us a hard time, which made it all the more interesting and challenging.

Unfortunately, at the middle cocktail we were told we would not proceed to the next round. Nevertheless, we won the Special Award for the Best Mediation Plan, which made us and our coaches very proud! Therefore, we had more time to watch other teams, get into contact with professionals and discover Paris. After having watched an impressive final round, we could not believe that the competition was already over. Saying goodbye to all the great participants and professionals we had met, was not easy.

Once again, we would like to thank our coaches, Masud Ulfat and Anastasia Molchanova, and sponsors for their continuous support since without them, this amazing journey would not have been possible!

Emmanuel Alonge, Lena Harris-Pomeroy, Theresa Tauchnitz, Lisa Oelschlegel