Although more than 90% of all family law cases settle out of court and many of the cases in court settle at an early stage, law schools still focus their training on substantive law and court practice. Litigation moots and mock trials have existed for many years to give students experience in the court room.
Now, family law students will also get to practice negotiation skills thanks to a new competition supported by the Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Justice.
Hilary Linton and Elizabeth Hyde are thrilled to co-chair the inaugural Walsh Family Law Negotiation Competition, an exciting new opportunity to support the teaching of negotiation skills to family law students.
On March 14, 2015, students from law schools across Ontario will meet in Toronto to participate in a family negotiation competition that will be judged by senior members of the profession and members of the bench.
In traditional moots students demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for court: persuasive advocacy of a client’s legal case. The negotiation competition requires equivalent knowledge of the law, and a different set of skills. Students are given a complex problem and they must seek to negotiate a settlement with opposing counsel. Competitors are judged by the degree to which they explore interests, generate options and work effectively with opposing counsel to achieve a settlement that is as good as or better than their client’s alternatives.
Until now, negotiation competitions have been reserved for Civil Law students. The new Walsh Family Negotiation Competition, which is co-sponsored by the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (FDRIO) is the first of its kind for family law students in Ontario.
Much of the hard work has already been done by the organizational committee which includes Justices Jennifer Mackinnon, Heather McGee and Ellen Murray, lawyer-mediators Susan Jack, Brian Burke, and Jennifer Suzor, and Tami Moscoe. And the event has already received strong support from many members of the legal, judicial and academic communities.
You are invited to support this ground-breaking event in one of the following categories:
- Platinum: $2500
- Gold: $1000
- Silver: $500
- Bronze: $250
- Supporter: $100
Please contact us soon to ensure your firm will be able to support this innovative event.
As the competition draws nearer, we will also need volunteers to help organize and work at the event. If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know!
Image credit: reynermedia on Flickr, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode
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