NUS Law wins Lex Infinitum 2017

NUS Law congratulates Kok Chun Hou ’17, Joshua Woo ’17 and Lee Yew Boon ’19 for winning Best Overall Team at Lex Infinitum 2017.

Lex Infinitum is an international Mediation and Negotiation Competition hosted by the VM Salgaocar College of Law in Goa, India. The 2017 iteration featured 24 shortlisted teams from law schools all around the world.

This year, the competition consisted of 4 rounds of preliminary negotiations, a quarter-final, semi-final, and final. Problems included everything from a Brazilian inheritance dispute, to a British airline customer relations fiasco, and even an Indian patent claim. The rounds were judged by experts from around the world- UK, Austria, Australia, US, Brazil, India, and NUS Law’s own Associate Professor Joel Lee, Chairman, Singapore International Mediation Institute (SIMI).

After three gruelling days of competition, the NUS Law team emerged overall Champion, relegating the defending champions from Jagellonian University, Poland to second place. In doing so, Chun Hou and Yew Boon came in 2nd runner up amongst the negotiating teams, while Joshua Woo won Best Mediator and Best Mediation Management.

The competition was an eye-opener, allowing the team to get a glimpse of a multitude of negotiation styles. At the same time, the workshops held before the competition gave them the chance to learn from various international experts providing them with invaluable insights into the practical realities of mediation and negotiation.

The victory was particularly notable as the team went unaccompanied, and a majority of the competition costs were borne by the team, with some financial assistance provided by the HL Wee Moot fund. It was also the first time that a team from NUS Law participated in this competition.

On the whole, the team really enjoyed the entire experience. Chun Hou, said “I think the competition was a defining moment as a law student.” The rest of the team agreed. In particular, Lee Yew Boon ‘19 felt that the competition was “a rewarding and fulfilling experience which has empowered me to better meet the dispute resolution needs of an increasingly cross-cultural and global market.”

The team would like to extend their sincere gratitude to everyone who helped them throughout their journey. Their success would not have been possible without the help and guidance of Associate Professor Lim Lei Theng ’92, Associate Professor Ruby Lee ’85 and Ms Sonita Jeyapathy ’03, who spent countless hours patiently mentoring and teaching them. They would also like to thank Associate Professor Joel Lee for his guidance and support during their time in Goa. The team is also grateful to their fellow negotiation and mediation team mates (INADR, ICC, CDRC) for the time spent practicing with the team.