SOAS students win the national student mediation competition
4 February 2022
A team of three LLB students from SOAS have won the National Student Mediation competition in Canterbury out of a field of 17 teams, that included postgraduate students training to be barristers and solicitors. The SOAS team of Tate Farwell, Bana Itani and Yusuf Lahham, won the Best Mediation Team Award, sweeping the floor with ‘ones’ in all scoresheets ranking boxes. The SOAS team also received 2 out of 3 of the Best Individual Mediator awards, with Tate Farwell coming in 1st and Bana Itani coming in 3rd.
This was the first time SOAS took part in the competition.
On participating in the competition and winning the Best Mediation Team Award, Law student Bana Itani said:
“The UK National Mediation Competition was one of the most insightful experiences I’ve had since starting law school. Not only did it bring to the surface invaluable practical skills that are applicable to both a future legal career and day-to-day life, but it was also unbelievably fun and enjoyable! A great deal of thanks goes to our professors, Michael Bartlet and Claire De-Than; without their guidance, support and encouragement, we wouldn’t have made it to first place!”
Law student Yusuf Lahham said:
“This competition is especially beneficial for those desiring to enhance their advocacy skills, given it’s educational and real-life experience. I would highly recommend taking part!”
Michael Bartlet, Senior Lecturer in Law said:
“While mediation is an inherently collaborative process, winning this competition is richly deserved recognition for our SOAS team. It is a huge pleasure to support our LLB and ADR students in developing their skills not just as advocates and litigators but as the dispute resolvers and negotiators of the future.”
Professor Claire de Than said:
"As someone who has judged this competition many times and coached a winning team previously, I concur that their scores would be remarkable for any team, and are a clear indication of excellence both for the team’s skills and for Michael’s teaching. The students were an absolute pleasure to support.”
The annual UK Student Mediation Competition is designed to help law students understand the value of resolving disputes, and develop their skills in mediation. The competition is in its 14th year and presents a great opportunity for students to display their mediation skills.
Teams of three students are judged over three rounds with each team member performing two mediations as a co-mediator. In each round, competitor institutions have two team members mediating and in the same mediation round the other team member, not co-mediating performs the role of a party coming to mediation.