Robert Gordon University (RGU) students Dylan Middleton and Zhaira Kausar are through to the final of the International Negotiation Competition after triumphing in the Scottish Universities Negotiation Competition held at RGU.
The postgraduate students, both studying for their Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at RGU's Law School, beat stiff competition from four other universities and will now head to Oslo in June to compete against national winners from countries across the world.
The negotiations involve the teams taking on fictional challenges to resolve disputes – this could be over the terms of a commercial lease, an argument between members of a committee or a dispute between neighbours.
In the limited time available, the teams must assimilate the information and deduce what is important to their 'client'. They must then work to achieve what is most important, and give ground on other matters until acceptable agreement is reached.
Margaret Downie, senior lecturer and director of resources at the Law School said: "Negotiation is a key legal skill. It is very important in today's global market that lawyers have the knowhow and skillset to negotiate effectively across contexts, cultures and national boundaries.
"The Negotiation Competition is an excellent forum for profiling this skill and we are delighted that we will be going forward to the finals in Norway. This result showcases the high standard of skills that students acquire on our courses.
“Our congratulations go out to both Zhaira and Dylan for all their hard work and great effort in the competition. Both students prepared diligently and negotiated skilfully. We wish them all the best for the next round of the competition."
The International Negotiating Competition 2017 will be held in Oslo, Norway from June 27 to July 1 2017.