Mercer Law students Donita Morris and TaMisha Cooke placed first in the American Bar Association's National Negotiation Competition on Nov. 7-8 in Hartford, Conn. They made up one three Mercer teams competing in Hartford, one of 10 regional competitions around the country. Morris and Cooke advance to the National Finals in February 2015 in Houston in conjunction with the American Bar Association midyear meeting.
Third-year students Mary Kate Silloway and Stephen Swinson and second-year students Jessica Canedo and Patricia DeJaynes also completed in the regional competition. Mercer Law School alumni Christopher Steele ('11) and Bryant Culpepper ('72) coached the teams.
“All three teams worked very hard and represented Mercer with great pride,” said Steele. “The teams were consistently complimented on how well they prepared they were and their ability to negotiate great outcomes for their clients.”
The ABA Law Student Division Negotiation Competition promotes greater interest among law students in legal negotiation and provides a means for them to practice and improve their negotiating skills. The competition simulates legal negotiations in which law students, acting as lawyers, negotiate a series of legal problems. The simulations consist of a common set of facts known by all participants and confidential information known only to the participants representing a particular side. All of the simulations deal with the same general topic, but the negotiation situation varies with each round and level of the competition.
