"I'm finding this an incredibly rich learning experience for the students."
Linda Jurevic, Lecturer in Law, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia

This unique new competition for law schools worldwide includes the 2008 International Competition for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR 2008) in which 270 teams from law schools around the world have competed since its commencement. The competition covers client instruction, case pleading, negotiation and mediation in the field of commercial dispute resolution.

The competition takes place online with each match run in a dedicated webfile using the bespoke software of The MediationRoom.com Each team can include not only the negotiating members (usually 3 or 4) but an unlimited number of fellow students to follow negotiations and post suggestions in a private team area. The enrolment fee (300GBP) will include a licence for the school to run three additional online casefiles to use afterwards, as a training tool or for ad hoc matches with other law schools.

The main points to note from the unique competition format are as follows:-

- Two matches,over two weeks for each match, with each team acting for the Claimant and then for the Defendant.

- The case scenario is split into two scenarios, one as presented by the Claimant and one as presented by the Defendant. They will vary in presentation to reflect different interests.

- Each team will have a client allocated. The scenario is learnt through online discussion with the 'client'. It is up to the teams to extract the fullest information.

- After taking instructions on the case, each team then has to draft a case pleading, based on general principles, not on any specific law.

- Following pleadings,each team has 8 days to negotiate. If they fail to settle, the case goes to a 7 day mediation with an online mediator.

- Each team is expected to make use of an area for anonymous brainstorming of solutions where solutions can be brainstormed and considered objectively without attaching weight through knowledge of the interests of the party concerned.

Prize:-

The winning team will receive its own version of an Online Pro Bono Clinic driven by the Software behind this service, branded to the school and hosted for five years.