FIU Law ABA Regional Negotiation Team finishes as Co-Champions at ABA Chicago Regional Negotiation Competition

On November 13^th, three FIU Law Negotiation & Mediation Teams competed in the ABA Chicago Regional Negotiation Competition (hosted by the University of Illinois via Zoom).  Our FIU Law ABA Regional Negotiation Team—Leydi Arboleda (2L) & Yanina Onyewenjo (3L) (Alternate, Jorge Yegres (2L))—finished as Co-Champions from a 24-team field.  Yanina and Leydi defeated two teams from SMU (ranked 52^nd among all law schools) to reach the Final Round, and Yanina and Leydi defeated Baylor (ranked 58^th and 2nd in trial advocacy among all law schools) to win the Co-Championship.  Leydi and Yanina will advance to the ABA National Negotiation Finals on February 4-5, 2022, along with the other Co-Champion team, Creighton, a top school in negotiation and mediation competitions.

A second FIU Law team—Stephanie Capón (3L) & Abegay Taylor (2L) (Alternate, Michael Tyler (2L)—narrowly missed the Final Four, finishing 5^th overall after winning both of their preliminary rounds.  A third FIU Law team—Savita Ramkalawan (3L) & Sarika Laljie (3L) (Alternate, Lauren Reynolds)—also missed the Final Four by a narrow margin, dropping one of their preliminary rounds by the vote of one judge. In the preliminary rounds, the three FIU Law teams collectively won 5 of 6 rounds and 12 of 18 judges’ ballots.  The alternates for the three teams—Jorge, Michael, and Lauren—assisted the teams throughout the practices at FIU and at the Competition by providing research, analysis, and playing the opposing role for the counsel in many practice rounds. The three FIU Law teams were coached by Prof. David Walter, and they were also assisted in their preparations by over 40 members of the FIU Law Negotiation & Mediation Team over the course of 4 weeks and more than 50 hours of practice sessions.

This year’s Chicago Regional was one of the toughest negotiation regionals in which FIU Law has ever participated and marked the 8th time in the last 11 years that an FIU Law Negotiation team has ranked as Co-Champions or 1^st at the ABA Regionals (2021 (1^st), 2019 (1^st, 1^st); 2018 (3^rd); 2016 (1^st/3^rd); 2015 (1^st); 2014 (1^st/2^nd/3^rd); 2013 (1^st/2^nd); 2012 (1^st); and 2011 (2^nd/4^th).