The Negotiation Challenge Experience - An interview with Albin Thomas

Albin Thomas was a part of a three member team ( Albin Thomas, Chetan Kanungo, Vinesh Chandel) that represented the National Law Institute University in The Negotiation Challenge - 2010 at Leipzig, Germany. The team brought laurels to the University by standing 5th in the competition, with this being the first time that N.L.I.U. participated in the competition. The BlogCom gets in touch with him to find out more..

Q. What was the challenge all about?
A. Under the mechanism of Alternate Dispute Resolution, there are three methods, mediation, arbitration and negotiation. Negotiation is the most informal of the three, and is the basis of any corporate transaction, as before entering into any contract, there is negotiation. The Negotiation Challenge is a competition organized by Harvard Law School and HHL, a premier law school in Germany. Six B-schools and six law schools from around the world are shortlisted on the basis of resume for participation in the competition.

Q. Which were the colleges that took part in the competition this year?

A. From India, it was the National Law Institute University, Bhopal and the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. From US, there was Harvard Law School, Georgetown University of Law, and the eventual winners, University of California Hastings, among other business schools from France, Poland etc..

Q. How were the rounds of the competition conducted, which Universities did N.L.I.U. face in the competition?

A. The competition had an excellent concept attached to it. Since it was held in the city of Leipzig, a city which had been destroyed in the World Wars, only to come back, so the rounds of the competition were at different places of historical importance in the city and the rounds were based upon the history of those places. In one of the rounds, we were taken to the old city center and we negotiated a contract between the King's party and the traders, in another we went to an International Football Stadium where we negotiated a football contract. Since the rounds were based on historically and geographically important locations, it was an interesting experience for us.

Ironically, we faced UC Hastings, the winners of the competition in our last round and won that round, but lost to the runners up, a French Business School in our second round. The third round was an individual negotiation round, a one on one competition.

Q. Why do you think negotiation as an activity is important in law school?

A. Since a substantive number of students join law school to make a career in Corporate Law, it is important to learn the art of negotiation, since that is the basis for any corporate transaction taking place, and hence it should be paid attention to. Other forms of resolution like Arbitration and Mediation are much more complex forms when compared to negotiation, while negotiation represents the practical aspect of a contract.

Q. What differentiates negotiation from arbitration and mediation?

A. Arbitration and mediation have their own sets of rules that govern them. However, with negotiation, it's about having business sense, since there are no rules that govern the process of negotiation. One more thing we observed in the competition was that B-School students had a better command on the process than law school students, since it is included in their curriculum, while only law schools from the U.S. had courses on negotiation, which shows the international trend towards negotiation. But in Indian law schools, there still aren't courses directed specifically towards negotiation. N.L.I.U. has a course on arbitration, but not mediation, which shall be an important part of one's corporate career after law school.

Q. What do you think N.L.I.U. should do to encourage negotiation?

A. We could have a non-credit course on negotiation, to explain to the students the principle and the established philosophy that governs the process. As an effect of this, students would benifit through the practical aspect of negotiation, i.e., it's application in a corporate job.

Also, most of the Indian teams face the problem of financing, while other law and business schools that participated had their expenses covered by their institutions and along with that, they had coaches to guide them through the process. In fact the US teams were surprised to see us without a coach, and were impressed by our performance in the competition even in the absence of a coach and specific curriculum dealing with negotiation. So, if we can solve these problems, future teams actually have a pretty good chance at winning the competition.

Q. What would you advise teams that go for such competitions in the future?

A. The most important thing for new teams would be reading up on the topic. Our library does not have enough material on topics such as negotiation at present, so if the students can make an effort to obtain subject material on Negotiation, it would make a great difference. There is a lot of important information regarding the process, available on the internet, for example, the basic principles that need to be followed, how to start, how not to start (important because you do not want to make the other team uncomfortable with your idea or proposal at the very beginning of the round) etc..

Also, the ADRC can organise Intra-Batch competition to encourage practice or research in this area among the students of NLIU.

Q. What was the net positive that the competition lead to, for the entire team?

A. Obviously, the amazing experience that we gained in the competition, and the feeling of finding out that we're doing good, even without traditional preparation, gave us the confidence of doing better in the future. Also, the fact that we were the highest ranked Indian team there, would be considered in shortlisting us for the exclusive competition next year, on the basis of our performance this year.

Q. On a lighter note, tell us about the happiest moment of the entire trip?

A. There is no specific moment, since there were many, one of them being experiencing snow, for all three of us, although coming from different parts of the country, had never experienced snow. I will always remember how our teammate, Chetan, lost his luggage at the airport on arrival, and had to spend a substantial part of the trip with just one set of clothing.

Of mooting, among other things!!

A month of mooting, and you start cursing everything existing on this planet!! :P However, now that I sit to write this, a part of me feels incomplete… It is those days I want to go back to… And, so nothing could have been better than writing a blog entry!.. So, here it is.. I’m sorry, it may feel irrelevant to those who didn’t moot, however, whatever I will pen down will probably connect with all the people who tried their hand at memorial making and the grilling orals!! :P

We were given our problems on 24.12.09,(Yes! Doesn't feel like last year…) however, considering that we are the most diligent people around, and taking into check the fact that we had 1 months holidays to look forward to, the moot problem was certainly the last thing we wanted to look at! And so we technically started work around the 3.02.10, and the news postponing the moots, came like rains in the movie Lagaan.. :P .. So, work started, confusion overloaded, “Please help! Signs came up everywhere!! Sections, articles, acts and statutes were words we started hating! However, those were the days of increased phone calls and Gtalking, reassurances over the mess table, parents calling to ask if we were eating properly( which we obviously were), bunking classes(9 days in a row, yes, I did that)…! The times when people ask you about the progress in moot work( Trust me, that’s all people ask at these times!), and all you can do is *Sigh*..

The memorial submission comes as the part where you feel everything was worthwhile, afterall!! And then when the jumping subsides, and you have had a nice-big team celebration, you are made to realise the amendments you need to submit… :D..

And then came the D-day-Prelims!.. All drenched in sweat, cracking jokes which were not funny, checking heels and shirt, missing annexures, look of sympathy for the first speakers, and some unknown case in the memorial, curiosity regarding judges( We were checking out 5^th years in formals and the possible threats attached!!) were somethings worth mentioning!!.. All the bests and you will be goods flew around!!.. With the last round of hugs (Girls do that!!) and melodramatic gestures, we went into our respective courtrooms. And what happens next and the rest, you will have to moot to know it! The only formula that applies is, “if you know it, then Dude(\m/) or if you don’t, Dude( :|).”, and leave the rest to God and Your Lordships!! We were unaware of what happens when you stand at the podium and begin to talk, or rather when you are stopped in mid-sentence!! But, we made it alive... :P The second day had to see another round of butterflies and hazy vision, and the unforgettable moment of panic after seeing the nameplates of the judges, which was the deadly duo of Navin Sir and Tanuj sir, however, they turned out to be awesomeness defined... :) !! And it ended well, with a little melodrama and presence of mind… And then the ecstacy and surprise of making it to the Quarters!!.. Trust me, when you begin to moot, you leave all hopes of making it to the next rounds, and all you pray is that you are not thrown out of the courtroom or your memorial is not flung at your face!!.. Neither of which really happened... :D

There are times when you just want to chuck everything, and go for a long holiday, and that’s when you realize that you have put down the wrong Statement of Jurisdiction! And then urgent calls follow.. :P There are times when you forget what was the case all about, when you want to burn the Constitution to ashes, when you are falling over the laptop but can’t afford to sleep, the dread of the oncoming mid-terms, the convincing parts with the parents when you have to show them that moots are the most important things on the earth, the reminders of mark deductions when you are late(Ahem ahem!!), the ‘Man!Thank God” feeling when they tell you no marks being are being deducted, the hugs after winning one part of the so-called battle, and the glares people give when they see you not working!!.. And somehow, on times like these, God grants everything you ask not-to-happen!! :P

You have to moot to be in an unprecendented situation of the same petitioner-respondent memorials, to know how it feels to see the smug smiles on Akshay’s face just before memorial submissions, to not being able to find a Supreme Court judgement, to know all the WPs and SLPs, to feel the panic of missing CPCs, to have skipped breakfasts, to know of the Supreme court working days, and the Chief Justices of India…(Yikes!!) :P.. You also have to be there to understand how it feels to be up against your best friends, which in this case would be Shreya and Surabhi( who later were the winners, credit obviously going to me and Krithika... :P)out of which one is your roomie (Shreya and me), in a knockout round!.. But, we had the happiness in knowing that we will never end up against each other for any other rounds, whatsoever!!.. :)

Moot teaches you how to take criticism in the best possible way, act on it, expect the least expected, teaches you diligence to a certain extent, teaches you how to remain calm, how to sit in the pressure-cooker and yet not get boiled, become sleep-deprived zombies, reading between the lines, how to go round and round on the same things yet being good, reading 300 page judgments(Uh..huh.. Kesavananda guy, u wait!!), the crossed fingers before the winners are announced, and the hugs and You-did-its followed!! .. You get out stronger, and happier..And you realize that winning does not matter, just like I did... :)

Many might feel that I’m against the idea of mooting, however, you have to understand the underlying obssession which made me write this!! As somebody rightly said, “You always have to moot the second time”! J.. And not forgetting, there’s always a moot hangover… :P

-Kriti

P.S: I'm sorry, I never realised this entry turned out to be sooooo big... Hope its a happy read! :)

Saving Panthera Tigris: Tough Job Ahead for Asia

After a long time I say hi to this blog and to all my friends who are in a good habit of following this blog. Now, I know that this article is not associated with NLIU and I know it even better that it is but for this reason that this blog post may be removed in a couple of days or even earlier, but since I had to convey something to my batch mates, I couldn't find a better medium of communication than this.
Now, I finally begin with what I had to say. Those of you, who are big TV buffs like me, must have observed the advertisements of the Save Tiger Campaign by Aircel. I watched it too, first because they have hunks like Dhoni and Baichung Bhutia in their ad (you can't help but notice them first) but then I was moved by the message it conveyed "Just 1,411 tigers are left in India, will we let our National Animal disappear?" The first image that came to my mind after this was a photograph that I saw in class 9th in my social studies textbook, it displayed almost 30 tigers dead in front of an English police officer, who stood loftily displaying his 4 feet 5 inches long gun with a dozen Indian 'helpers' standing behind him. Sorry for over-reaction but I seriously felt like taking away the Englishman's Gun and shooting him and then posing in the same way in front of his dead body as he did before the tigers.
The reason for tigers being our national animal is that a tiger is a perfect example of beauty, glory, royalty, richness and pride. Other reason is that once upon a time it was found in abundance in our country and it still is in the maximum number in our country. Statistics reveal that currently there are 3200 tigers in the whole world; while a century ago, this number was over hundred thousands. 160 countries over the globe prohibit the sale of tiger's body parts.
In India, National parks like Corbett, Dudhwa, Kaziranga, Kanha and Bandipur contain maximum tiger population. However, increasing human population and illegal trade are the main reasons for tigers being killed here. According to a research by WWF, increase in sea level is also a reason for tiger extinction in countries like Bangladesh. The world famous area for tigers, the Sunderbans have encountered a 96% decrease in the number of tigers. In Russia, ruthless deforestation is giving rise to tiger extinction while in China, the heavy demand for tiger's body parts is a reason for tigers being killed. The situation can be understood by the fact that there are only 50 wild tigers left in China. Vietnam too faces the same holdup. United States has more tigers encaged than in forests, Texas having the maximum number of encaged tigers. Europe exports almost 5.8 tons of palm oil per year, which leads to a vast chopping down of rainforests, a home for tigers in Europe. Nepal has the maximum cross roads over the world, which is responsible for the smuggling of tiger parts.
The main reason for tigers being killed at this large pace is the medicinal value of its body parts. According to the Wild Life Trade Tracks Expert in East Asia, Dr. Priscila Geo, Chinese people believe that medicines made of tiger's bones have magical effect on orthopedic ailments. However, the sale of tiger skin, bones and other parts is prohibited in China since 1993 but still the trade silently continues. The Director of World Bank's Tiger Initiative Project Mr. Keshav Sharma says that over a last few years, the Middle class has grown substantially in China which has resulted into an increasing demand not only for medicine and wine but also for ornamental gifts, hence resulting into more and more killing of tigers.
However, measures are being taken for increasing tiger population around the world. Chinese Scientists have recently proclaimed that they can develop approximately 600 tigers a year by genetic engineering but these tigers will face problems of adjusting with climatic conditions. There is a lot of dispute worldwide regarding this matter as wildlife activists say no to this idea. Asian countries have agreed to contribute largely in the number of tigers and make their number increase substantially till 2022.
Let's hope that this majestic and beautiful animal survives even more on this earth and remain an icon for our country with its inspiring natural characteristics that make it our national animal. Let's hope that we never encounter a day when a tiger deprived of its natural habitat will enter our university campus. Bhopalis must be knowing that there are some real tigers in Kerwa Forests too!

-Durva

Of empty hostels and bonfires

On the 24th of December 2009, smiles that had been lost underneath never ending stacks comprising mainly of unorganized photocopied notes, subject material and books that were never actually referred to, returned on the faces of most of the students at NLIU as they packed their bags to return home. The MP Tourism taxi service probably recorded peak profit that day, as most of us rushed to catch that trains they don't know the name of, for obviously that didn't matter to them. What mattered, was the belief that this journey will take them outside the godforsaken campus that had been haunting them in the last two weeks, thanks to the end-terms. So as 'most of us' vacated the hostels, the unfortunate rest stayed back to face a painful round of negligible social contact, no food on campus, empty hostel corridors and locked rooms. Why? Exactly the question almost everyone of us staying back asked oneself at the end of the day, 'Why did I pick this moot!?' Among the 15 or so students staying back were not many heavyweights of mooting, but there were some hopefuls. The teams that stayed back included those representing NLIU at B.C.I, Jessups North, MM Singhvi, DM Harish, Vienna East, K.K. Luthra, and the GLC-T moot. And somehow, we managed to make it an experience worth reminiscing.
With the library closed for the first 3 days due to local and national holidays, the mooters stayed in their respective rooms for a substantive part of the day, only coming out to find the tapra closed and walking back, or to arrange for food. I made regular rounds to the Jessup team's room, to fetch some inspiration from the quartet stuck to their laptop screens. It helped me out a little, but couldn't prevent me from wasting my time on various futile issues like thinking about where to eat for hours and planning meals in advance. So, the year 2009 was ending with most of us making honest attempts at researching, yet often finding ourselves checking out the amazing download speeds that we were getting. GBs in an hour, the WiFi lord was impressed I guess. Some of us did manage to resist the temptation and work, which is something I can never be proud of, because sadly enough I couldn't follow suit. And I paid the price later, working non-stop for more than a day, and convincing the courier service to take my package even without proof of identity. Managed all of that, and learned never to repeat some fatal mistakes that I made during the period.
Some things still need a mention, because of being the only light moments that we had, moments that were free from pressure, and filled with humour. This would obviously include the Christmas Dinner that was delicious, (according to what I am told, couldn't be there) the Bonfire which included ideas like burning the dog and smoking the bonfire flame(one of which was turned into a practical demonstration, I leave it upon you to figure out which one ) and everyone's submission date. All of us managed to submit on time and those of us who didn't quite know how to format, acquired the knowledge the hard way, and the rest we decided to keep for later.

Advice to future mooters staying back:
Make sure you know who else is in the hostel.
Keep listening to music, BUT work!
Always have stuff to eat.
If you're not experienced enough at it, don't sleep for 20 minutes, thinking that you will wake yourself up on time. (You're going to wake up the next morning, take my word)
Keep talking to people. (don't let the big bad moot get you)

And, DHL doesn't take packages after 8:00 PM.
This piece of information, would certainly help.
(I submitted at 8:25 PM, but I was lucky)


-Yash S Vijay
Batch of 2014