Students from the Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law Mediation Clinic traveled to Chicago, Illinois on March 5-8, 2014 for the InterNational Academy of Dispute Resolution’s 13th Annual International Law School Mediation Tournament. The tournament consisted of 52 teams from around the world, including teams from Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Australia, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Canada, Sri Lanka and the United States.

Fowler School of Law was represented by two teams: Team one included Paul Deese (JD ’14), Clay O’Neal (JD ’14) and William Zakis (JD ’15); Team two included Shane Micheil (JD ’15), Jennifer Stein (JD ’14) and Stephan Tanizaki (JD ’14). The team of Micheil, Stein and Tanizaki made it to the semifinal round, which included 16 teams in each category. They placed 6th in mediation and 8th in the advocate/client portion of the competition. The team of Deese, O’Neal and Zakis made it to the final round of four teams in each category. They placed 3rd in mediation and 2nd in advocacy. Deese and Zakis also took home the 9th place individual award for advocacy.

Fowler was the only school to win 4 of the Top 10 awards in the competition and the only team that earned a place in the final round in both mediation and advocacy.

“This is an outstanding record of achievement. I suspect the students will treasure this experience as the high point of their law school careers, especially given the participation of Ukrainian and Russian teams. What an appropriate moment to champion the peaceful resolution of disputes,” said Dean Tom Campbell.

The Fowler School of Law Mediation Clinic allows students to develop and use mediation skills through regular and frequent practice with actual clients under the supervision of experienced mediators in the Superior Court.