Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Team Dominates Tournament
L to R: Paige Shatola 1L, Leisa Boswell 1L, Skyler Sugimoto ’17, Katie Hekstra 1L, and Thomas Maloney 1L
The UC Law SF Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Team had a very successful weekend at the American Bar Association Representation in Mediation Competition, where Leisa Boswell and Paige Shatola, both 1Ls, were named tournament champions.
Their teammates Thomas Maloney and Katie Hekstra, also 1Ls, finished in third place, narrowly missing a second-place finish (and a Hastings v. Hastings final round) by a tiebreaker. “All in all it was an excellent showing by a group of four 1Ls who worked hard and were dominant in a field of competitors including 2Ls and 3Ls from schools across the U.S.,” said Clint Waasted ’04, director of the Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Team.
“Many thanks as well to the EMI Foundation volunteers who donated time from their busy schedules to help coach, including EMI Foundation Advisory Board member Skyler Sugimoto ’17 and first-time EMI Foundation coach Amanda Collins ’18, who led the way in helping us bring home the championship for UC Law SF,” Waasted said.
Waasted also thanked Professor Radhika Rao for lending her support, the Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR), and the entire Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Team. CNDR is consistently recognized by US News & World Report as one of the Top 10 ADR programs in the country.
Waasted is the head of UC Law SF’s perennially award-winning Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Team Competition Program. He has designed and grown the innovative educational program from the ground up since helping start the teams in 2001, developing individually tailored multi-year ADR education plans for his students.
He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Board at EMI Foundation, an education nonprofit that provides resources and fundraising for ADR education programs. In addition to lecturing at UC Law SF and Berkeley Law, Waasted is Director of Business Development at Zynga, Inc.
“Paige and I are so grateful to Coach Waasted, Skyler, Amanda, and Katelyn Dembowski, our ADR Team Board President, for coaching us, tirelessly sparring with us, and generally helping to get us prepared for our first competition,” Boswell said. “We couldn’t have achieved this win without them.”
The ADR team is unique in that 1Ls get a chance to compete. “We can already see improvement in our negotiation and mediation skills from fall tryouts to beginning of prep for the competition to now,” Boswell said. “When the settlement rate for all cases is close to 95%, we believe these skills are paramount for any aspiring lawyer.”
The competition was held at Marquette University School of Law in Milwaukee, Wis. “We were proud to represent Hastings in the frozen tundra of the Midwest but these sharks are happy to be home in more temperate waters,” Boswell said.
The competition season continues with contests around the country. The next is at Georgetown Law, and the final competition is at University of Denver Sturm College of Law in Denver March 21-22.
Learn more about the UC Law SF Negotiation and Dispute Resolution team here.