MSU Law Arbitration Team Advances to ABA National Competition

 

MSU Law 3Ls Addison Standlee, Colton Kopcik, Megan Shaya, and Chad McDonald won the Richmond regional of the American Bar Association’s Arbitration Competition, which took place via Zoom from November 12-13, 2021.

Twelve teams participated in the competition, including another group of MSU Law students, and the top two teams advanced to Nationals. The team of Jen Holubowicz, ’22, Nick Feinauer, ’23, Mason VanGorp, ’22, and Haley Wadel, ’22, placed fourth in the competition, ultimately losing to their MSU counterparts.

Standlee described the experience of facing their classmates in competition as “a really unique challenge.”

“We’d been practicing for months against each other, so we know each other’s pieces probably as well as we know our own,” she said. “It really came down to advocacy and objection skills.”

“We walked away from that round where it was MSU versus MSU and we were like, ‘that’s the best that both teams have ever done,’ because we really got to push each other,” Shaya added. “I think we put on a very good show for the judges. It was a hard one to call!”

The advancing MSU team went on to maintain the number one seed position in the rankings until the close of the competition. McDonald was a late addition to the team; he joined Standlee, Kopcik, and Shaya only days prior to the competition, when the others had been preparing for nearly six weeks. Kopcik, Shaya, and McDonald previously competed with one another on the negotiation team as 2Ls, so “bringing in Chad felt as though we’d already been working together for a long time,” Kopcik explained.

“They did a very good job of getting me caught up to speed,” McDonald said. “I had to read the facts and know how to play the witness correctly but when it came to reading my pieces and cross-examination, I feel like the team really gave me the ability to do that well because they had already put in the work.”

The students were assisted and coached by Professor Mary Bedikian, director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program at MSU Law.

“Professor Bedikian is the toughest critic, more than any judges we faced, which is a great thing. There was never a day we stopped revising from the time we submitted our first draft,” Standlee said. “I think that’s what separated us and other schools: our ability to edit on the fly and keep going – and that’s because of Professor Bedikian.”

“I have had many teams advance to nationals, and many teams win at regionals. But it takes a very special team to do what this team did. They worked steadfastly, each day, to improve on their prior advocacy. They challenged themselves before, during, and after each class session. They were open to learning, and open to self-critique. Each week, they raised the bar even higher,” Professor Bedikian said. “This victory was well-deserved – a true tribute to a team that exemplifies the word, ‘teamwork’.”

Alumni Taylor Berry, ’20, MSU Law’s 2019 arbitration team captain, and Gray Hyland, ’21, who competed with Standlee in last year’s arbitration competition, also mentored the students leading up to and throughout the course of the weekend’s back-to-back events.

“You really put all of your energy and all of your work and every ounce of advocacy skill you have into each round and then you advance, and you keep doing it,” Shaya said. “We were definitely exhausted by the end, but it’s just a prop to Professor Bedikian because she is such a hype woman. She kept the energy and spirit up. She gave us Panera and Starbucks, whatever we needed to keep going. It wouldn’t have been the same if we weren’t with her.”

The team will compete at Nationals in January, and they are confident about taking on the challenge. “We’re definitely feeling good heading into Nationals, but the work doesn’t stop,” Kopcik said. “We’re going to revisit each of the pieces that we wrote and tighten things up, make things clearer.”

“I think we have what it takes. This is a team all around that has solid work ethic. We have good partner dynamic on both sides and altogether,” Shaya added. “This is a team that carries superb storytelling capabilities. We have good writing skills, and an army of advocates in our corner who really want us to succeed, spearheaded by Professor Bedikian.”

The students agreed that the competition programming and experiential learning opportunities organized by MSU Law have helped them to feel immensely prepared for their future careers, particularly as 3Ls nearing the end of their legal educations. They will compete separately in various competitions next semester in addition to representing MSU at ABA’s Nationals.

“There’s just something about getting in there and applying the law and standing up there and having to be confident and do it yourself,” Shaya explained. “You walk away from these competitions – no matter what the score is, no matter how you ranked or what the seed was – with so much more confidence, and that’s confidence you can actually carry into your work.”