Law students ready to make ‘the best deal’ in contest

Legal teams will attempt to beat seven other nations over the negotiating table

by Mike Young

It is about making the best proposal and negotiating the best deal for your own country.

This is in short, the object of the annual negotiation game hosted by the Faculty of Law, the Copenhagen Competition, with student legal teams from eight countries in Copenhagen for the playoffs in October.

Candidate teams, including the Copenhagen team, have submitted written negotiation positions. If selected to be one of the final eight, they will be a part of the oral negotiation in Copenhagen. Here they will represent fictive nations, nations that will argue their case pretty much like their own countries do in real international negotiations.

Access to medicines

The Copenhagen team was interviewed by the University Post prior to the first selection today Tuesday. At this time they were still uncertain whether they had achieved a spot among the final eight. Unfortunately as it turned out. They did not make the finals.

»We get a fictitious state. But you have to show that there is a balance between the state you represent and the position that you uphold in the negotations,« explained Annabella Stoica, a member of the Copenhagen team, adding that they have spent six weeks on their submission to the contest.

While last year had climate policy as the subject, this year’s bargaining will be over access to medicines: Should countries be allowed to enforce patents on medicine in developing countries?

All about persuasion

Just like in real negotiations, much of the wheeling and dealing can take place outside the official negotiating room, as teams attempt to form alliances.

»Just like in the real world we can attempt to persuade the other teams at the different social events surrounding the competition. Other teams may have the same interests as us, and it is here that we can sound them out,« said Nanna Biener another Copenhagen team member.

»Unfortunately we are not allowed to give out gifts!«, she added with a smile.

miy@adm.ku.dk

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