ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION COMMITTEE, TAMILNADU NATIONAL

LAW UNIVERSITY, TIRUCHIRAPPALLI

COMMITTEE REPORT : 2018-19

Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee (ADRC) is the newest committee formed in the
academic year of 2018-19 in Tamil Nadu National Law University, Tiruchirappalli (TNNLU). The
ADRC is created with the objective of fostering the skills in the Alternative Dispute Resolution
activities focusing specifically on Arbitration, Mediation, and Negotiation. In addition, the ADRC
also looks into training of students in Client Counseling techniques. The ADRC is constituted with
the following student members:

1. Hari Vignesh, V YEAR, B.Com.,LLB(H)

2. Ayushi Parashar , V YEAR, B.Com.,LLB(H)
3. Priya Venkatasan, IV YEAR, B.A.,LLB(H)
4. Ravindran V-IV YEAR, B.A.,LLB(H)
5. Sharumathi K- III YEAR, B.COM.,LLB(H)
6. Payaswini Rai- II YEAR , B.A.,LLB(H)
7. Mrinali Dave- - I YEAR, B.A.,LLB(H)
8. Fathima Hussain - I YEAR, B.COM.,LLB(H)

The various events/activities conducted by the ADRC are as follows:

1. ORIENTATION PROGRAMME ON ARBITRATION AND CLIENT COUNSELLING

COMPETITIONS
On 20th August (Monday), 2018, the ADR Committee hosted a one-hour workshop on
Arbitration and Client counseling. The workshop started with Karan Kr Khetani of 5thyear
introducing to the attendees the main idea of Arbitration and its mechanism. He further explained
in detail the technical aspects of Arbitration and threw light upon the process of drafting a
memorial. The workshop was carried forward by Ayushi Parashar of 5th year, who gave an insight
on the National and International Arbitration competitions and their selection criteria. To give the
attendees a better understanding of how the Arbitration process takes place, the students of the
university demonstrated a mock Arbitration procedure where Abhay Siddhanth of 5th year and
Sarthak Mishra of 3rd year played the role of Counsels and Ayushi Parashar, Payaswini Rai of 2nd
year, Priya Venkatesan of 4th year played the role of Arbitrators. The Arbitration orientation ended
with Ayushi Parashar and Abhay Siddhanth pointing out the minute details one needs to consider
while participating in an Arbitration competition: The need for maintenance of eye contact with
all the Arbitrators• Limitation of hand gestures• The importance of presenting your statements
with confidence• The workshop was then carried forward by Indhu Vadhana of 5th year who
briefed the audience about Client Counselling and its procedural setting, she was joined by Ayushi
Parashar, who gave further briefing on the Client Counselling procedure. Indhu Vadhana
elucidated the major details of the Client Counselling competition, she highlighted the following
points one needs to keep in mind while counseling a client: Working atmosphere•
Confidentiality• Consultation cost• Consultation etiquettes• Consideration of both legal and
non-legal aspects (e.g., socio-economic aspects)• Suggesting the client with the best suited legal
procedure (Arbitration, Mediation,• Negotiation, Litigation) Equal engagement of both the
Counsels• The workshop was indeed enlightening and gave major insight on how Arbitration and
Client Counseling competitions work practically.
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2. REPORT OF MR. AISWARYE DUBEY’S 3 DAY WORKSHOP ON MEDIATION

AND NEGOTIATION

Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee upon its inception has taken the initiative of organizing
a 3-day workshop on “Negotiation and Mediation” for enhancing the skills of the students of
TNNLU to attend the various National and International Competitions. In respect of the same, Mr.
Aiswarye Dubey, a Pass out of National Law University, Odisha and Winner of ICC Young
International Mediation Competition, 2015 and Best Mediator of NLS ADR Tournament, 2015
was invited to conduct the sessions. The workshop was conducted from 21-23rd August, 2018 from
5pm – 8.30pm to selected 30 students. The session was attended by students from all the years
particularly from 1st, 2nd and 3rdyear both B.A. LL. B (hons) and B.Com LL.B. (hons). The session
started with Mr. Dubey explaining the importance of Negotiation and Mediation skills in the
current legal profession and prospective of the same as a career option. Then Mr. Dubey introduced
the negotiation skills emphasizing upon the principled style of negotiation. Over the next two days,
Mr. Dubey went on to train the students by showing videos, lectures and various sessions of
simulations on mediating skills. Mr. Dubey also conducted mock sessions and personally gave
feedbacks to students upon how to improvise their skills. The workshop was very much welcomed
by the students of TNNLU and concluded successfully on 23 August 2018 with a small feedback
session.

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3. INTRA-UNIVERSITY ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION COMPETITION

REPORT
The ADRC has successfully conducted the 4th Intra - University ADR competition
2018 for the selection of students from TNNLU to represent various International and
National Arbitration, Mediation, Negotiation and Client Counselling Competitions for the
academic year 2018-19 on 1st and 2nd September, 2018.The competition this year was
complimented with a 3 days’ workshop on different issues relating to Alternate Dispute
Resolution which was conducted by the ADRC in association with Mr. Aishwarye Dubey.
This workshop was an initiative with the objective of familiarising the students with the
related concepts of ADR. On the 1st of September, the stage was ready for the IUADR 2018
and the participants were in full zeal. The competition was scheduled for two days, where
the first day hosted the Arbitration and Negotiation competition each following two rounds
and the second day hosted the mediation and the client counselling competition. Day one
started with a short briefing session for the judges, wherein they were introduced to the
prepositions and the rules of the competitions according to the competition they were to
judge. The day further proceeded with the 1st and the 2nd rounds of the competition. Day 2
again started with a short briefing and continued with the rounds of mediation and client
counseling. Around 20 students participated for the Arbitration Rounds including the oral
rounds and Researcher’s Test. The Mediation Competition alone witnessed the
participation of around 89 over the various batches. Similarly, in the Negotiation
Competition about 56 students enthusiastically extended their participation and finally,
more than 60 students attended the Client Counselling Competition. The IUADR
Competition 2018 had an overall participation of 194 students from over the 5 years LLB
program. The Judges for the different rounds were selected from pool of certified and
practising Arbitrators, practising lawyers and various law firms like the Samsung, AK Law
Chambers, etc. and also Academicians. The entire event paced so smoothly that it might
have mistaken many to be a very effortless job, but it has to be noted that the ADRC had
been working on this eventwith all its heart and soul from the day this thought took birth.
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4. 1ST TNNLU NATIONAL MED-ARB COMPETITION-2019

The Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee (ADRC) of Tamil Nadu National Law University
successfully hosted the 1st edition of TNNLU National Med-Arb Competition in association with
the NaniPalkivala Arbitration Centre, Chennai from 8th march- 10th march 2019. TNNLU is the
one of the first law University in the whole of India to conduct the Med-Arb competition, a two-
step dispute resolution process in which parties attempt to resolve their dispute in mediation, and,
if they fail to resolve some or all of their issues, the remaining issues are automatically submitted
to arbitration where the arbitrator imposes a binding decision. The competition included a unique
element of arbitral award writing which is prepared by the arbitrator/mediator after the oral
submissions of both the parties in the arbitration session. This arbitral award was also judged in
the competition which makes TNNLU the first among all the Universities in the country to
organize such a competition on arbitral award making. Various teams from private colleges and
national law universities across the country took part in the competition. The competition aimed
at honing the decision making and award drafting skills of the arbitrators as well as the skill of
negotiating and conducting mediations by mediators. The participants were judged by eminent
arbitrators, academicians and lawyers from across the country.

The event commenced on 08.03.19 with the registration of the participating teams and followed
by an inaugural ceremony. The event began with Tamil Thai Vazhthu, followed by a speech by
the vice chancellor of the university, Prof. Dr. Kamala Sankaran emphasizing the importance of
skills in arbitration and mediation. This was followed by an orientation by the committee. The
participants were allotted their opponents by picking of lots and the exchange of memorials
happened on the same day.
The preliminary round-I and preliminary round-II took place on 09.03.19. Participants from 8
universities qualified for the semifinals. The semifinal and the final rounds were held on 10th
march. The participants were qualified for the finals on the basis of merit in the semifinals.
Participants from 4 different universities qualified for the final round.

The winning client-counsel team was from Alliance University, Bangalore and the winning
mediator/arbitrator was from Symbiosis Law School, Noida. The runner-up client–counsel team
was from Symbiosis Law School, Noida and the runner-up mediator/arbitrator was from Symbiosis
Law School, Hyderabad. The best memorial award was given to participants from School of
Excellence in Law, Chennai. The best client-counsel teams were from Alliance University and the
best Mediator/Arbitrator was from Christ University, Bangalore. The finalists were judged by:

• Registered mediators at the Madras High Court - Ms. PushpaSitaraman, Mr. Vijaya
Krishnan and Ms. Uma Ramanathan,
• Independent arbitrator &Practising Advocate, Madras High Court- Mr. InbaVijayan
• Designated Senior Advocate Founding Director, NPAC- Mr. N.L. Rajah
• Arbitrator, HSB partner- Ms. Priyadarshini Natarajan

The event ended with a valedictory ceremony on 10th march, where the winning teams were
honored with trophies and total cash prizes worth INR 47,000/-. The valedictory ceremony ended
with the National Anthem and followed by a high tea.

5. INTERNAL SELECTION ROUNDS FOR PARTICIPATING TEAMS FROM

TNNLU IN VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS
The ADRC conducted various Internal Selection rounds for selecting teams from the
students to represent various International and National ADR competitions. The selection
rounds were conducted as per the ADR Allotment Policy 2018-19. A panel of Internal and
External members adjudged these selection rounds. The External Panel of adjudicators
were: Mr. Saravan , Arbitrator and Mediator , Member of IIAC, Mr. Aiswarye Dubey, Pass
out of National Law University, Odisha and Winner of ICC Young International Mediation
Competition, 2015 and Best Mediator of NLS ADR Tournament, 2015, Mr. Prakash,
Former Vis Participant and Independent mediator.

6. INTERNAL SIMULATION SESSIONS

ADRC has also conducted various simulation sessions in Mediation, Client counseling,
Arbitration and Negotiation among the students of TNNLU to make the interested students
practice and update their skills. Few propositions were send in prior and the students were
asked to come prepared after which the students were given simulation and a feedback on
how to approach the problem from different angle. These sessions were conducted on
weekly basis for 1 hour.