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During the International Negotiation Competition (INC), which was held in Dublin, Ireland the week of July 6-10, team members Kathleen Pfahlert and Omar Ali-Shamaa, were among 24 teams vying for the top spot. It was FIU Law’s first appearance at the competition and they were the only U.S. law school to compete.

The INC is a law student competition in which a two-person team represents a party/client and negotiates either an international transaction or the resolution of an international dispute with an opposing team of two law students.

The competition brought teams from 22 different countries including Switzerland, Ukraine, Germany, Qatar, India, England, Russia, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, and Australia. Each of the three rounds used a different fact pattern which built upon the previous round’s facts. The issues included contract terms, compensation, expenses and future property rights to the site.

For Pfahlert the processes was demanding.

“With help from the whole FIU Law Negotiation Team and Professor Walter, we spent two weekends practicing before the competition – starting from the moment we got the facts. It was challenging to practice because we did not know what to expect from the problem writers in this organization. It was especially difficult because the last round of the competition involved four teams negotiating against each other with eight people at the table. Omar and I kept the negotiation on track with our interest based approach and suggesting divisions that satisfied each parties’ top goals,” she explained.

FIU Law competed against law schools from Qatar, Ukraine, Switzerland, South Korea and Scotland.

“Omar and I are true competitors: we’re never completely happy unless we are the best! But, we are very pleased to have been invited to this competition to represent the USA and FIU Law, to create international networking relationships and to finish ranked fourth in the world,” Pfahert boasted.