Celebrating its first anniversary, the IBA-VIAC Consensual Dispute Resolution Competition (CDRC Vienna) was this year held for the fifth time from 6th to 10th July 2019. For the fifth time, the collaboration of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC) and the International Bar Association (IBA) invited students and dispute practitioners from around the world to Vienna to share their knowledge and spend a week mediating and negotiating the Vis Moot Problem.
Once again, 33 diligently selected international university teams came together to share their passion for negotiation and mediation and demonstrate their skills, guided by their coaches and met with the feedback and support of selected international experts in the fields of mediation and negotiation. CDRC provides the framework for not only an exchange of experiences, career tips and feedback, but also an exchange of cultures over the common ground of enthusiasm for Consensual Dispute Resolution (CDR).
For the first time, the CDRC took place in a new venue, the University of Vienna, Faculty of Law – Juridicum. The top floor with it's beautiful view provided the perfect ambiance for the introduction to the event, which began with a series of workshops and trainings on negotiation and mediation skills and techniques. As a perfect kick-off to the event, the University of Vienna, Faculty of Law generously sponsored a welcome reception at the beautiful Arkadenhof at the main building of the University of Vienna.
The next day, the preliminary rounds began and 22 negotiator teams were grouped together with 11 mediator teams to negotiate this year's arbitration case of the Willem C. Vis Moot Court in a mediation setting. At this point, thank you once again to the Willem C. Vis Moot Court Directors!
As one of the evening programs, the participants were introduced to typical Viennese cuisine at the Beergarden of Zattl. After the preliminary rounds and the quater finals, the announcement of the semi-finalist of the negotiator teams as well as the finalists of the mediator teams and the special award ceremony took place at a beautiful reception hosted by one of the Sponsors, KNOETZL. The Final Award Ceremony was generously sponsored by Headline Sponsors CAM-CCBC from Brazil, and held at city hall, providing all participants with the perfect end to a great event.
The Final Award Ceremony honoured 1st Prize Negotiation (V.M. Salgaocar College of Law Goa, India), 2nd Prize Negotiation (University of New South Wales, Australia), 3rd Prize Negotiation (National Law School of India University, Bangalore, India), 1st Prize Mediation (University of Milan, Italy), 2nd Prize Mediation (University of São Paolo, Brazil).
Preliminary Round Special Awards were given for the negotiators: Special Award for Best Negotiation Strategy - University of Vienna; Special Award for Best Advocacy – Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie; Special Award for Best Teamwork in Negotiation – O.P. Jindal Global University. Preliminary Round special awards for mediators were: Special Award for Most Effective Opening Address –Pontifical Catholic University of São Paolo; and Special Award for Best Mediation Management – Marquette University Law School.
We would like to thank our sponsors, all the expert assessors and working group members, the organizer and this year's small but amazing volunteer team. This year once again CDRC has proven that with passion, enthusiasm and most importantly commitment to Dispute Resolution and what it stands for, events like this will remain a great success, an unforgettable event and a must for CDR enthusiasts every year.
With great anticipation we are looking forward to the next edition of the IBA-VIAC CDRC with new and known experts and coaches and new student's eager to experience the world of Consensual Dispute Resolution. Stay tuned for the date to be published soon!
See you soon in Vienna!