Oxford Wins National Final of CEDR Negotiation Competition 2021

We are proud to announce that a team representing Oxford has won the CEDR Negotiation Competition 2021. The team consisted of two students, Yueyi Li (St Peter’s College, MSc Law and Finance) and Benedict Stanley (St John’s College, BA Law).

The CEDR Negotiation Competition takes place every year and examines participants’ negotiation skills, teamwork and legal ethics as lawyers. This year, due to the pandemic, the two-round competition took place online.

In the regional round of the competition, held on 27 February 2021, the team took part in two negotiations. The problems concerned intellectual rights and public utilities, requiring the team to analyze the information before negotiations and flexibly respond to the new information in the competition. The Oxford team was ranked within the highest twelve teams out of the sixty teams, and progressed to the final competition. After the announcement, the team attended a training session held by the CEDR committee, in which some active listening skills were taught.

In the final round of the competition, held on 27 March 2021, the team competed in three negotiations. One of the negotiations was a neighbourhood issue among four parties. The other two were two-party negotiations, focusing on a mortgage contract and a potential labour contract. The team was awarded first place in the competition.

Though there was no chance to meet offline, Yueyi and Benedict enhanced their negotiation capabilities and enjoyed the whole competition process. The competition was of a high standard and the performance of all teams was impressive. In the summer, the team will represent the UK in the International Final Competition.

Oxford Winning Team: Yueyi Li and Benedict Stanley