Program on Alternative Dispute Resolution

Lawrence Negotiation Competition

Every fall, Moritz students compete in the intramural Lawrence Negotiation Competition, named for James K.L. Lawrence ’65. The winners of this weeklong competition move on to Regional and National Negotiations Competitions, which the American Bar Association conducts.

Working in conjunction with the Moritz Moot Court and Lawyering Skills Program, the competition’s administrative arm, the Program on Dispute Resolution enriches the participants’ experience in two ways. First, the program hosts a speaker with a distinguished career as a negotiator. This year, the speaker is Steven Fehr, an attorney who has been outside counsel to the Major League Baseball Players Association since 1986.

Second, the program conducts a negotiation workshop for students who have no prior experience in negotiating. These events, together with the competition itself, create an engaging and stimulating learning experience for all participants.

Second- and third-year Moritz students may participate the competition and all members of the Moritz community are welcome to attend the various events listed. Those students pursuing the Certificate in Dispute Resolution may earn Externship hours through their participation.

2009 Schedule of Events

• Wednesday, Sept. 23 – Lawrence Negotiation Lecture: Steven Fehr, Noon, Drinko Room 352
• Thursday, Sept. 24 - Negotiation Workshop, 6-9 p.m., Drinko Room 251
• Monday, Sept. 28 and Tuesday, Sept. 29 - Preliminary Rounds
• Thursday, Oct. 1 - Semifinal Round
• Friday, Oct. 2 - Final Round, 9 a.m., Faculty Club

James K. L. Lawrence '65

James K. L. Lawrence '65 is a partner with Frost Brown Todd in Cincinnati. Following graduation from law school, he worked as an attorney at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He left the NLRB to join his firm and, for more than 30 years, has practiced labor-relations and employment law. He is a skilled advocate in arbitration and an astute negotiator in collective bargaining and settlement discussions.

He has pursued vigorously the sustained study of dispute resolution materials at programs throughout the country, including the Program on Negotiation at Harvard, and has blended that study and practice into teaching courses in negotiation and mediation at Moritz and at the University of Cincinnati Law School.

He has given generously of his time, talent, guidance, and resources to Moritz and the Program on Dispute Resolution over the years, so it is perfectly fitting that this expanded educational enterprise with negotiation at its core be conducted in his name.