National Competition in Representation in Commercial Mediation
2013-04-28
On 27-28th April, 2013 National Competition in Representation in Commercial Mediation was organized by Tbilisi State University National Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution (NCADR) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), South Texas College of Law (STCL), East West Management Institute (EWMI) and it’s program “The Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project” (JILEP).
The goal of the National Competition was to promote popularization of Alternative Dispute Resolution, to inform Georgian students about the institute of mediation as well as to deepen collaboration among Georgian universities.
The teams from the following universities were registered for the competition: University of Georgia, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Grigol Robakidze University, Free University of Georgia, International Black Sea University, Ilia State University, Georgian-American University and Sokhumi State University. Overall, eight teams and 29 participants took place in the competition.
On 24-25th April training was held in mediation aiming at the preparation of the participant student groups for the competition. The students acquired the client representation skills in mediation process. What is more, not only students but also coaches attended the training.
The workshop was led by Steven Austermiller, Kimberlee Kovach and Catherine Burnett, who explained theoretical aspects of the client representation during the mediation and then for a better understanding the groups were required to participate in the Mediation Simulation.
Georgian mediators who have the international accreditation of British Organization – Center For Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR ) were also involved, they served as volunteer judges and mediators in the National Competition of Representation in Commercial Mediation.
On the first day of the competition teams were competing with each other in order to reach the semi-finals. The teams were completed in couples by preliminary voting system. On 28th April 4 teams went to the semi-finals and on final round Free university of Georgia and Ilia State University were aiming to win the competition.
Ilia State University became the winner of the Competition and was granted with the symbolic gifts and will be sent to Paris together with coach for participation in the International Commercial Mediation Competition organized by the International Chamber of Commerce. All the participants National Competition in Representation in Commercial Mediation were granted with the relevant certificates.
