It’s a three-peat for FIU Law Board of Advocates negotiation team


The FIU Law Board of Advocates (BOA) negotiation team reached another milestone during the ABA Southeast Regional Rounds held Nov. 8-9 at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. The teams swept the competition, bringing home not one, not two, but three awards: champion, runner-up and second runner-up. This is the third year in a row that FIU Law has won the ABA Southeast Regionals. The competition featured 24 teams from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

From left to right: Professor David Walter, Chjris Miranda, Juhane Elizee, Omar Ali-Shamaa, Kathleen Pfahlert, Christopher Pena, Marena Veiga and Sarah Valdes.

From left to right:
Professor David Walter, Chjris Miranda, Juhane Elizee, Omar Ali-Shamaa, Kathleen Pfahlert, Christopher Pena, Marena Veiga and Sarah Valdes.

Bringing home the win was the team of Chris Miranda and Jihane Elizee – both third-year law students. Although they both boast of past victories – Miranda was a member the 2013 ABA Regional Championship team and Jihane was a member of the 2013 runner-up team at the Nelson Mandela International Negotiation Competition – preparing for the ABA competition was unique.

“FIU Law employs a non-adversarial, interest-based approach to negotiations, which Chris and I followed. We took an organic approach to negotiations, asking probing questions to learn more about the interests of the other side,” Elizee shared. “From there, we tailored our discussions and subsequent offers based on mutually beneficial solutions. We emphasized collaboration among the parties so that everyone would leave the negotiation feeling confident in the agreements that we eventually reached.”

Even though earning the top three spots is rare it wasn’t the first time Professor David Walter, who is also the faculty coach, experienced it. FIU Law took the top spots at the ABA Southeast Regional Championship in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

“I think our consistent, outstanding results over the past several years has been the product of several factors. The students are all very bright and very dedicated, they all have a tremendous work ethic, and they put in countless hours in our practice sessions, and on their own time, to develop their negotiation skills and strategies,” Walter said. “Over the years we have developed an exceptional team selection process, and that, combined with the dedicated work and consistent instruction from our student coaches and other team members, has repeatedly produced top negotiation teams.”

Coming in second place were third-year law students Omar Ali-Shamaa and Kathleen Pfahlert and in third place was Christopher Pina and Marina Veiga, who are both second-year law students.

Two teams – Miranda and Elizee, and Ali-Shamaa and Pfahlert – will advance to the ABA National Negotiation Finals to be held in Houston in Feb. of 2015. The finals will showcase the Top 24 law school negotiation teams from the United States and Canada.

Elizee, who aspires to a federal career, credits Walter for his guidance in preparing for the competition.

“Professor Walter has been amazing. He has a wealth of knowledge that he eloquently shares during our practice sessions. I have learned that there is always a diplomatic way to settle disputes. That goes to the core of the interest-based, non-adversarial method of negotiating that FIU Law employs at competitions. He has truly helped me develop a unique skill set that I will surely use in practice,” she explained.

Members of the BOA compete in negotiation, mediation, appellate Advocacy and trial advocacy competitions.