Mediate Guru Virtual Negotiations Competition: Swansea Win!
At the heart of the Swansea Law School Communication Skills Programme are the five skills of trial advocacy, appellate advocacy, client interviewing, negotiations, and mediation. Between the 19th and 22nd June 2025, three Swansea teams focused on negotiations at the Mediate Guru Virtual Negotiations Competition, a remote competition drawing teams from around the world, and in particular Asia, into a hard-fought commercial negotiation competition.
The students were provided with advance information and had to represent their clients, first in preliminary rounds competing against 24 international teams and then, for the eight highest scorers, knock-out rounds to determine an overall winner. Swansea’s three teams were Lewis Green and Amelia Smith (2nd years), Matthew Vandesande and Luca Affuso-Price (3rd years) and Honee Crocker and Ellie Leach (2nd years). They all threw themselves into the process, beginning with the submission of written plans for both sides in the Preliminary Rounds.
The oral stages were intense, and all three teams gained a great deal of experience and feedback from the panels of judges and after the Preliminary Rounds, two Swansea teams progressed to the knockouts- Lewis and Amelia, and Matthew and Luca. The competition was being run on Indian time, so this required a very early alarm for a 6am start on the Saturday- not everything about competitions is glamorous!
Matthew and Luca were eliminated at the quarter-final stage but learned a lot from the process, while Lewis and Amelia continued their progress by qualifying for the semi-finals and, later that day, for the Final. This took place on Sunday against from a team fromDr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU), Lucknow and to Lewis and Amelia’s delight they were announced as the winning team by the panel of judges including Chakrapani Misa (Khaitan & Co), Shravan Yammanur (Dentons Link Legal) and Karan Kanwal (Deputy Registrar of the India International Arbitration Centre). This was a fantastic performance by Lewis and Amelia and they were both delighted to have been able to showcase the skills that they have learned at Swansea Law School.
Amelia said: “This competition helped develop my ability to improvise and adapt spontaneously to information and proposals given in the moment particularly while maintaining clear communication with the opposing team. This experience has notably improved my confidence in public speaking and has shown me how the law is applied in a more practical setting. I highly recommend for anyone who is considering taking part!”
For current or prospective students interested in learning more about the Swansea Law School Communication Skills Programme, contact Matthew Parry