Law Society of Ireland Gazette

A Law Society team of PPC trainees Noor Choudry (Maples) and Meadhbh Jones (A&L Goodbody) took first place in the 2025 National Negotiation Competition, held at Blackhall Place on Saturday (22 February).

The Law Society team, coached by Ruth Tracey, overcame the UCD team of Ruth Morris and Mark McDwyer during the final negotiation session.  

The National Negotiation Competition is a law-student competition in which a team of two, representing a party or client, negotiates either an international transaction or the resolution of an international dispute with an opposing team.

Eight teams from Irish law schools participated in this year’s competition, judged by an expert panel of legal practitioners.

Across three rounds, teams negotiated scenarios that covered:

• An international sales and distribution agreement,
• A sports-management contract, and
• ESG issues in a commercial contract.

The trophy was presented to the winning team by the competition convenor John Lunney (course manager at the Law Society), in his role as national representative of the  International Negotiation Competition.  

UCD’s Mark McDwyer picked up the award sponsored by the Mediator Academy for the outstanding negotiator during the preliminary rounds

Represent Ireland

After presenting the trophy to the winning home team Lunney explained that the winning Law Society team would now qualify to represent Ireland at the International Negotiation Competition, which is scheduled to take place in London in July.

The i event is the oldest and most renowned competition focusing on international legal negotiation for law students from all over the world and offers a unique educational programme for international legal practice.