Firm News
Fillmore Riley proudly sponsors the 2022 Robson Hall Negotiation Competition
Overview
Fillmore Riley LLP is proud to sponsor the Robson Hall Negotiation Competition for the thirteenth consecutive year.
The Seventeenth Annual Robson Hall Negotiation Competition, to be held the evening of November 29, 2022, gives third-year students who were the top performers in the Legal Negotiation course the opportunity to compete for the prestigious honour of representing Robson Hall in the Canadian National Negotiation Competition.
Although a number of innovations were introduced to host the competition virtually in 2020 and 2021, Robson Hall and Fillmore Riley are excited to welcome students back to an in-person competition.
“I am delighted that Fillmore Riley has continued its long-standing tradition of supporting this competition, and that its lawyers are once again so generously giving of their valuable time to judge the competition,” said Professor Bruce Curran, a Robson Hall faculty member who helps organize the competition. “I am also elated that we are able to conduct the competition in person again after two years of running the competition virtually. The in-person format is far more enjoyable for the competitors and the judges.”
In teams of two, students representing one party to a dispute will meet with the team representing the other side, with each team possessing confidential information about the background and their clients' settlement preferences. This year the hypothetical problem centres around the alleged breach of a contract with a morality clause. A fictional organization with a mission to reduce the number of intoxicated-driving incidents hires a famous guest speaker to give a talk at its annual conference, and this speaker is charged later that evening with driving under the influence, leading to bad publicity for both the organization and the speaker. The organization refuses to pay the speaker, relying on a “morality clause,” and the parties are threatening litigation.
The teams have to try and negotiate a settlement to this dispute. All of the negotiations take place while the teams are under the ever-watchful eyes of the Fillmore Riley judges, who are scoring each team’s negotiation skills.
According to Professor Curran, negotiation skills are critical to a lawyer’s ability to effectively represent clients and solve their problems. “Fillmore Riley demonstrates their understanding of the importance of negotiation, and their commitment to training young lawyers, through its generous support of the competition.”
Fillmore Riley’s lawyers have volunteered their time as judges for the competition from its inception. Fillmore Riley’s Delaney Vun, Keith Senden, Rachel Loewen, Annika Friesen, Meghan Payment, Sven Hombach, Sarah Thurmeier, Aron Grusko, Brynne Thordarson, Don Baker, Ranish Raveendrabose and Andrea Signorelli will act as the judges this year.
Being a strong negotiator is an essential skill for all types of lawyers. Lawyers negotiate to help clients solve problems and to get deals done,” said Delaney Vun, a partner of Fillmore Riley and the acting chair of the Professional Recruitment Committee. “We’re proud to sponsor a competition that gives students an opportunity to apply classroom lessons to the type of scenarios they will encounter as practising lawyers.”