Helen Tong 

Team Australia comprising of Henry Palmerlee and Bas Braham, both students at The Australian National University (ANU) College of Law, has won the 24th International Negotiation Competition (INC) held at the Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

The INC is the world’s oldest and most prestigious student competition focusing on international legal negotiation. Teams from England, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada and Brazil competed before a panel of nine judges on an extensive list of judging criteria including teamwork, strategy and relationship with the other side.

Henry and Bas were ranked first on each of these criteria, in every round, by all nine judges.

Henry’s recollection of his “very intense” time at the competition illustrated the hard work the pair invested to seal their success.

“[The INC] was a really amazing experience. Like any competition, it’s the most enjoyable when you’re up against talented opponents,” said Henry, a Bachelor of Laws (Hons)/Politics, Philosophy and Economics student.

“We ended up as the Australian team at the INC by winning the 2021 Australian championship, where we represented ANU. All the other teams were also their respective countries’ national champions, meaning that the standard of negotiation was extremely high.

“We were up burning the midnight oil every night finishing our preparation, and so part of the challenge was managing the fatigue that had really set in by the last day of the competition.”

Negotiation is one of many different types of competitions available to students, with other popular student competitions involving mooting, client interviews and more. For Henry, the INC’s negotiation structure was particularly rewarding this time around.

“A team is two people, and the teams are pretending to be corporate counsel engaged by a client to negotiate on their behalf in the same way that a moot is people pretending to be barristers,” Henry explained.

“One of the interesting features of the competition is that you have a post-negotiation reflection session with the judges where you have the opportunity to discuss how your strategy worked, how you responded to certain things, what you would do differently next time and so on.

“This reflection is also marked, and is a crucial part of doing well because you need to show the judges you understand what you were doing, why you were doing it, and have the self-awareness necessary to recognise where you could have done better,” Henry added.

When asked what factors contributed to the pair’s success, Henry referenced previous experience as a significant factor.

“Bas and I got involved with negotiation in our first year through the ANU Law Students’ Society negotiation competition. We have been negotiating together for three years and so are very comfortable being fluid and playing different roles at different stages in each negotiation.”

The team extends a huge thank you to Professor Sally Wheeler OBE MRIA FAcSS FAAL, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International Strategy) and Chief Operating Officer at ANU, for her invaluable advice in the lead up to the competition, as well as the team’s coach John Juriansz and mentor Craig Collins for their assistance throughout the competition.

The team also acknowledges the generous contribution of Herbert Smith Freehills in their sponsorship of Team Australia for the competition.