युक्ती हीने विचारे तु धर्महानि प्रजायते

6th NUJS Mediation Competition, 2024: March 08, 2024- March 10, 2024

The NUJS Mediation Competition is the flagship event of the ADR Society of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, (WBNUJS), Kolkata. The competition since its inception in 2019 has attracted participation from esteemed universities both nationally and internationally, from countries like the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Singapore and Australia, among others. Further, the competition has served as a qualifier for the renowned International Mediation Singapore, hosted by the Singapore International Mediation Institute and for the prestigious Transatlantic Negotiation Competition (‘TANC’), hosted by the Syracuse University School of Law. Like its preceding editions, this year, the competition shall serve as a qualifier for TANC, IIMC Colombo, and ADR-ODR Dubai.

With esteemed collaborations with top-tier law firms and chambers in India, along with luminaries in the legal profession, this year’s competition offered significant prizes and coveted internship opportunities. Our principal sponsors included The Circle of Counsels, New Delhi, and the State Bank of India followed by Equi Law Partners and Argus Partners who served as award partners and IAMC, PACT, and SCC Online as knowledge partners while TANC, IIMC, and ADR-ODR International also supported the event.

The competition took place at the WBNUJS campus, and saw participation of 24 competing teams. The problems for this year were based on contemporary aspects like intellectual property law, artificial intelligence and its regulation, to name a few. The problems for this year’s competition were drafted by Mrs. Sangeeta Mehrotra, Mediator, Mr. Todd Berger, Professor of Law and Director of Advocacy Programs, Syracuse University College of Law, Mr. Felipe Glioche, Lawyer and Private Mediator, Mr. Kandula Udawatta, Legal Apprentice, Sri Lanka Attroney General’s Department and Mr. Atish Chakraborty, Academic Fellow, WBNUJS.

The competition comprised two preliminary rounds followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. The rounds were assessed by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjib Banerjee, Former Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, Judge, High Court at Calcutta, Jishnu Choudhwry, a renowned advocate in the High Court at Calcutta, Nisshant Laroia, Founder and CEO of PACT, Ayesha Jamal, a renowned Civil/Commercial Mediator at ADR ODR International and Mrs. Sampa Karmakar Singh, Faculty Advisor, NUJS ADR Society to name a few.

NLU Jodhpur emerged as the winner in both the Mediation and Negotiation segments, with NALSAR, Hyderabad, securing the runner-up position for mediation and NLU Odisha as the 2nd runner-up. In the Negotiation segment, NLSIU, Bangalore, and Symbiosis Law School, Pune, claimed the runner-up and second runner-up spots, respectively. Additional awards were presented to SLS, Pune, for the best negotiating pair and best team in the preliminary rounds of negotiation, NLU Delhi for exemplary teamwork in negotiation, MNLU Nagpur for outstanding mediation, and Sri Lanka Law College for the best opening statement in mediation.

The organising team is grateful to Prof. (Dr.) Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti, Vice Chancellor, WBNUJS, Mr. Raja Chakraborty, Registrar, WBNUJS and Prof. (Dr.) Pinaki Ghosh, IP Chair Professor, WBNUJS for their generous support at various stages of the event in making this event a success.