(Left to right) Andy Cegielski ’25, Audrey Herman ’11 (Coach), Katherine England ’25 and Ciara Harrington ’25
The hills are alive with the sound of mediation
UB law hits a high note in Vienna (or, how to sharpen legal skills while eating strudel and schnitzel!)
Law students Ciara Harrington ’25, Katherine England ’25, and Andy Cegielski ‘25 describe their experiences as they represent all of North America in the 9th Annual IBA-VIAC Mediation & Negotiation Competition which took place in Vienna, Austria.
By Ciara Harrington ’25, Katherine England ’25, and Andy Cegielski ‘25
Not just University at Buffalo School of Law or the United States, but 3L law students Andy Cegielski, Katie England, and Ciara Harrington represented all of North America in the 9th Annual CDRC Vienna - The IBA-VIAC Mediation & Negotiation Competition held from July 5th to 10th in Vienna, Austria. Our UB team was a quarterfinalist, placing us in the top 6 of 42 worldwide teams! They had the opportunity to compete with the first and second place teams and mediators!
Brief Competition Problem: Company A sells products to Company B. Company A gets hacked, so Company B unwittingly pays that hacker instead of Company A. Company A wants to be paid but Company B doesn’t want to pay for the same product “twice.” What now? Instead of fighting this out in court, the team was tasked assuming the roles of the CEOs and their attorneys to find a way Company A and B could both be “winners.” They did just that and more.
Ciara Harrington ’25
Katherine England ’25
This competition featured 28 negotiator teams and 14 mediator teams, but also included pre-moot conferences, negotiation and mediation workshops, and networking opportunities. Our team was able to not only learn, but truly experience international legal culture. Outside of competition, the students had the opportunity to engage with each other and compare their professional and personal experiences from our homes. They believe that making friends from around the globe was worth more than any trophy or medal that could have been offered!
In the competition, Katie England and Andy Cegielski as the negotiator team faced the following teams: The West Bengal National University of Juridicial Sciences, Kolkata (India), American University of Iraq - Baghdad (Iraq- Mohammed Al-Janabi, Aws Alazawy), Sri Lanka Law College (Sri Lanka), Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) (India), and in the quarterfinals National Law School of India University (India- Siddharth Kaushik). They were mediated by the following teams: Jagiellonian University (Poland-Roman Melnyk, Mateusz Adamus), Charles University (Czechia- Petr Všetička), Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (Brazil- Maria Isabella Fernandes Matias), and Singapore Management University (Singapore).
Ciara Harrington mediated for the following teams: University of New South Wales, Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur, FGV Rio Law School, University of Warsaw, National Law University, Jodhpur, Insper Institute of Education and Research, São Paulo, Carlos III University of Madrid, NALSAR University of Law.
Here is what the team and each team member said about this amazing experience:
Andy Cegielski ‘25
"Overall, the IBA – VIAC CDRC Mediation & Negotiation Competition has profoundly deepened our understanding of mediation, negotiation, and advocacy. Personally, we learned that effective mediation requires a balance between legal knowledge and empathy- understanding both the legal intricacies of disputes along with the emotional and cultural contexts of the parties involved. The competition emphasized the importance of collaboration, creative solutions, and active listening in negotiation. This highlights that success lies in finding common ground rather than just presenting strong legal arguments for who is at fault. The experience underscored and inspired the continuous evolution of alternative dispute resolution practices, reinforcing the need for adaptability and lifelong learning in the field. This experience has equipped me with the skills and mindset to be a more empathetic, effective, and adaptive advocate in our future careers." - The Team
"My favorite part of the competition was talking with everyone in between rounds! It was so interesting to learn more about their culture and share mine. It was also fun to talk about different cultural perceptions of each other and learn more about what our lives are really like as people and future lawyers." - Andy
"My favorite part of the competition was learning how our cultural backgrounds effect our mediation styles. Learning to communicate with people from different cultures has helped shape my approach to mediation and I'm excited for how this will help me grow in my future career." - Katie
"I really loved getting to know the other teams and volunteers. Everyone was so eager to learn and help. I learned a lot from just being around everyone during the rounds and also during down time or the evening events." - Ciara
The University at Buffalo School of Law Team want to extend a special thank you and shoutout to the following amazing people (in no particular order and not exhaustive!): our competitors and mediators listed above, the CDRC Team (Thomas John, MCIArb, Inan Gupta, GhulamMuhammad Adnan), Team Pontificia-Brazil (Júlia Pompeo Morais, Wendell Leal Hossu Monteiro de Melo, Natália Vieira Campos, João Pedro Serafin Ferreira), Team South Wales-Australia (Sarvam Khanna, Aya Adel, Oscar Iredale), Team Maharashtra-India (Aparimita Tiwari, Chinmayi Patil) Team Uzbekistan (Sarvarkhon Nosirkhonov, Akhrorkhon Nabiraev, Javokhir Miraliev, and our assessors and volunteers (Teona Kitinova, Luiza Dziunyk, Sala Sihombing, Mary Walker, Nikolai Shcherbinin, Ina Petkova, Anastasiia Zernova, Kateryna Manetska, Priscila Luz Barreiros)!
An even bigger thank you to University at Buffalo School of Law’s Advocacy Institute for funding our amazing educational experience, as well as UB Law’s ADR Society, Coach Audrey Herman, and Professor Steve Sugarman.