AUR hosts the fifth edition of The Italian Negotiation Competition

The Italian Negotiation Competition (“INC”) is a competition in which students (two per team) compete on a practical case to reach an agreement before a judging panel made up of university professors and professionals of commercial and corporate law from all over the world. Each team negotiates on behalf of a party/client in either a fictional transaction or the resolution of a fictional dispute with the opposing team.

AUR's professor, Roberto Pirozzi (Business program) is the organizer and founder of the Italian Negotiation Competition (and the driving force behind bringing the competition on campus this year). The competition will be hosted at AUR on May 27th and 28th, 2022, and the winning team from this competition will go on to represent Italy in the International Negotiation Competition.

How it works

The organizing committee will provide a different case for each round of the competition, which will be held entirely in English. Each case will consist of both general information provided to all participants and confidential information known only to the participants representing a particular side.

The simulations will be sent to the participants, coaches, and judges two weeks before the competition. Each team (and their coaches) will receive its respective general and confidential information for each of the negotiation rounds, while the judges will have access to the simulation material provided to all participants.

The facts are subject to reasonable interpretation by the parties, and the teams are allowed to enter facts that are not materially self-serving. A material self-serving fact is one that significantly alters the relative bargaining power of the parties. Whether a team’s interpretation of the facts is reasonable, or whether a team has invented or inferred material self-serving facts is a matter to be determined by the judges.

During the pre-negotiation session, the negotiation session, or the reflection period, no prepared or outside materials may be presented to the other team(s) or the judges. This is because the competition is designed to focus on negotiation skills as demonstrated on the day of the simulations. The teams may use previously prepared notes in any format during the entire simulation; they may also use calculators on time-keeping devices. Email, instant messaging and other means of communication are prohibited at all times during a round.

The competition consists of two rounds per team, which are structured as follows:

1. 10-minute pre-negotiation session (5 minutes per team);
2. 45-minute negotiation session;
3. 10-minute period for teams to prepare their reflection;
4. 10-minute reflection session (5 minutes per team);
5. 10-minute comment period in which the judges give the teams their feedback.

The judges will evaluate the performance of the participants according to the standards and criteria provided, and according to their own evaluation. Each judge will assign each team a score in accordance with the scoring sheet. The team with the highest average total score after two rounds wins the competition.

This year, AUR will be fielding three teams. Other universities sending teams include Bocconi, LUISS, and the Politecnic of Milan.

On Friday the 27th of May, there will be a series of Masterclass presentations as detailed below.

Negotiation Panel

Giorgio Marrapodi – “International negotiation from a bilateral and multilateral perspective”
Italian Ambassador to Turkey

Roar Thun Waegger – “Hardcore soft skills - 6 fundamental human skills to develop to become a more skillful negotiator”
Facilitator, advisor, and mediator – Waegger Negotiation Institute

Nancy Shultz – “Self-reflection in negotiation”
Professor, Director, Competitions and Alternative Dispute Resolution Program – Chapman University

Alessandro Pellegrini – “Negotiation approach in the pharmaceutical sector”
Corporate BD&L Director – Menarini Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite

Valerio Bruno – “A true story of a successful way of negotiating”
Director of Legal Services, Global Accounts – Accenture

Mediation Panel

Mikkel Gudsoe – “Tools of transformative mediation”
Associate Professor of Negotiation – Aarhaus University

Nicola Giudice – “Mediation in Italy: Features of the Milan Chamber of Arbitration”
Director of the conciliation department – Milan Chamber of Arbitration

Rachele Gabellini – “Necessary negotiation skills for mediators”
Professional negotiator, mediator and lecturer – LUISS and ADR Center

Arbitration Panel

Arzu Ongur – “Principles of International Commercial Arbitration: ISTAC”
Managing Partner – Ongur&Partners International Law Office

Michael Granne – “Negotiating with an arbitrator: using negotiation techniques in arbitration”
Partner – Provenzano, Granne & Bader LLP

Filippo Palmieri – “A case study concerning International Commercial Arbitration: ICC”
Partner – Curtis Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP