Lex Infinitum
Campus LifeLex Infinitum 2020-2021
Year 2019-2020 | Year 2020-2021 | Year 2021-22 | Year 2022-23
Lex Infinitum Event
Lex Infinitum, International Dispute Resolution Competition has been conceived for the purpose of promoting the use of ADR and to provide law students and ADR experts from all over the globe with a platform to network, innovate, and keep abreast of the latest happenings in the field of ADR in India as well as abroad.
OUR GOAL: To provide law students with an opportunity to showcase their ADR skills and techniques and test their mettle against the creme de la creme of the law student fraternity from different parts of the world. Lex Infinitum is one of the most prestigious events on par with prominent international ADR competitions like ICC Paris and CDRC Vienna. Due to the successful hosting and the credibility that the competition has been able to achieve at the international level, we have entered into an MOU with the AIDR (Association for International Dispute Resolution).
Our collaboration
Lex Infinitum is one of the most prestigious events on par with prominent international ADR competitions like ICC Paris and CDRC Vienna. Due to the successful hosting and the credibility that the competition has been able to achieve at the international level, we have entered into an MOU with the AIDR (Association for International Dispute Resolution) headed by Thomas Valenti, (attorney from USA), Mr.Tanmay Pandey and Mr.Harshit Pandey. The MOU is operative for a period of 2 years (2020-21 & 2021-22).
The event schedule and format
The 6th Edition of Lex Infinitum was scheduled from 21st to 27th Feb 2021. It was preceded by the Knowledge sessions by experts from 18th to 20th Feb 2021. Considering the present pandemic, the event was scheduled on online mode. The platform used was Zoom.
There were 38 Law Colleges that participated out of which 11 were International Teams from countries like Singapore, England, New York, Ireland, California, Brazil, Poland, North Ireland, Sri Lanka, Russia, and Belgium. Among Indian teams, 10 were National Law Schools. There were 55 trained expert assessors and certified Mediators from India as well as abroad who had registered. Out of these 26 experts were from abroad.
Pre-event preparation
The preparation for the event began in the first term. There were several OC meetings conducted online. This involved understanding the online mode of operation and finding out the most suitable platform from the variety of available platforms. The process of inviting registrations, drafting rules, problems, and CIs commenced simultaneously.
1. The website of Lex Infinitum was updated and it displayed the relevant
2. details about the competition.
3. We had a tie up with Lawctopus as our Media Partners who have wide reach in caseof all Law events.
4. Additionally emails have been sent to all law colleges inviting participation.
5. Lawgupshup.com has also given publicity to our event for free.
6. Legalbites.in too has put up a post for our event.
7. Livelaw also put up our content on their site.
8. AIDR vigorously promoted the event at the International platform.
Director : Dr.Mrunmayi M.Vaidya
Associate Director : Ms.Priyanka Shet
President: : Mr. Reuben Pinto
Vice-President : Rhea Almeida
- Advisory Committee:
- 1. Mr. Thomas Valenti
- Dr. M.R.K.Prasad
- Dr. Mrunmayi M.Vaidya
- Mr. Tanmay Pandey
- Rules Committee:
- Dr. Sandhya Ram S.A.
- Mr. Thomas Valenti
- Problem Committee:
- Mr. Thomas Valenti
- Dr. M.R.K.Prasad
- Dr. Sandhya Ram S.A.
- Ms. Catherine Davidson
- Mr. Jatan Rodrigues
- Grievance Committee:
- Mr. Thomas Valenti
- Dr. M.R.K.Prasad.
- Mr. Harshit Pandey
Each department had a faculty and a student coordinator from OC and volunteers. There were departments like Production, Hospitality, Teams, Experts, Scoring, Media, IT, Competition, Transport, Socials, and Delegate Sessions.
| DEPARTMENT | VOLUNTEERS |
|---|---|
| COMPETITION | Faculty- Dr.Gomati Desai, Ms. Jyoti Kiran Head- Om D’Costa Deputy- Samuel Abraham |
| TEAMS | HEAD- Vishesh Kulkarni DEPUTY- Komal Mathur |
| HOSPITALITY | Faculty- Ms. Ashwini Nayak, Ms. Priyanka Parab HEAD- Tabitha Souto DEPUTY- Veda Kerkar Kurzweil Monteiro |
| DELEGATE SESSIONS | Faculty- Ms. Pearl Monteiro, Ms. Shilpa Singh HEAD- Shivani Nazare DEPUTY- Vinay Mascarenhas |
| EXPERTS, SOCIALS | Faculty- Dr. Kim Couto, Ms. Amal Kazi HEAD- Sanjana Kakodkar Rhea Almeida Vishesh Kulkarni |
| PRODUCTION & TRANSPORT | Dr. Nagesh Colvalkar, Ms. Fouzia Rizvi HEAD- Rizzio Noronha DEPUTY- Kashyap Dhakankar Kishan Kavlekar |
| PROCUREMENT | Faculty- Dr. Ranjana E souza Cordeira HEAD- Rajiv Mendonca DEPUTY- Sanath Kholkar |
| MEDIA & MARKETING | Faculty- Ms. Ameya Nayak HEAD- Anant Nagi DEPUTY- Natasha Deshpande |
| SCORING | Faculty- Ms. Suchita Timble Ms. Sara George HEAD- Guruprasad Naik Punit Desai |
| IT | Faculty- Dr. Sonal Sardesai, Milind Anandan 1. HEAD- Nikhil Arajuo 2. Vinay Mascarenhas 3. Nash Ferrao |
The trial run for Lex was conducted on 11 th Feb 2020. The purpose was to test the conducting of the actual event during Lex and to identify and address difficulties. 65 members of the ADR Board joined in for the session with 18 faculty judges and 28 volunteers. There was a mock session conducted on Lex problem and it was a trial for the volunteers. 7 more practice sessions on a smaller scale were conducted on other days
Press conference was held on 15th Feb 2021 where several members of print and visual media participated. The panel consisted of Dr.Shaber Ali G., Principal, Dr. Mrunmayi M. Vaidya, Director Lex Infinitum, Shri.D.P.Pednekar, Administrator and Reuben Pinto President, Lex Infinitum. Compering was done by Anant Nagi. The panel gave brief overview of Lex Infinitum to the media members and answered their queries. The media gave wide and continuous coverage to the event.
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- Rule book was framed and released.
- Registration for participants and experts opened on 9 th Oct 2020. It closed for participants on 15th December 2020.
- Registration for Knowledge sessions opened on 25th Oct.
- Problems were released on 1 st Dec 2020. Qualifying teams were announced on 20th Dec 2020.
- Final registration and fee payment is 23rd Dec 2020.
Registration fees for International teams is 100 USD for Negotiators and 50 USD for Mediators. For National teams the registration fee for negotiators is 5000/- and Mediator is 2500/-.
There were 38 Law Colleges who participated out of which 11 were International Teams from countries like Singapore, England, New York, Ireland, California, Brazil, Poland, North Ireland, Sri Lanka, Russia, Belgium. Among Indian teams, 10 were National Law Schools. There were 55 trained expert assessors and certified Mediators from India as well as abroad who had registered. Out of these 26 experts were from abroad.
The Event
The 10-day event consisted of Knowledge sessions by Mediation experts from different countries, Mediation Musings, Orientation for the Competition, Training sessions for participants, and the competition.
A. Knowledge Sessions
Knowledge Sessions were initiated in order to spread awareness and training about the negotiation – mediation process in a capsule form. On account of the Covid – 19 pandemic, the knowledge sessions were held on the zoom platform. The sessions were spread over a three-day slot from 18th to 20th February 2021, and had a galaxy of six internationally renowned resource persons. A total of seventy-one participants, from all over the world registered for the same.
Day 1 (18.02.2021) – 1. Catherine Davidson 2. Charles LaFond
Day 2 (19.02.2021) – 1. Josephine Reyes 2. Gregory Bond
Day 3 (20.02.2021) – 1. Thomas Valenti 2. Damali Peterman
B. Mediation Musings (19.02.2021)
Day 2 (19th Feb 2020) also consisted of Mediation Musings, an initiative by V.M. Salgaocar College of Law which aims to spread awareness about alternative dispute resolution. Mediation Musings was a panel discussion and was open to the general public. It had seventy-eight attendees.
The topic of this year’s session was “Hammer Out A Deal Not Ethics – Ethical Dilemmas In Mediation” and the panel consisted of 4 highly regarded speakers in the field of ADR – Thomas Valenti spoke about the dilemma of confidentiality, its benefits, and its downsides too, next up was Dr. B.S. Patil who spoke on whether ethics in a legal practice are enough for mediation and whether or not a separate legislation is required for mediation. He also touched upon how the ADR process is informal but the result is formal, there is a need to develop ethics specially in India. Next up to speak was Allison Malkin who spoke on the recipe for success in a mediation session. She also emphasized how mediational mediators are not there for opinions but are there a merely as a neutral party. Finally, we had Catherine Davidson whose topic was self-determination and determining by self or by situation. In all it was a wonderful and informative session by all the panelists.
Student head – Shivani Nazare/ Deputy – Vinay Mascarenhas
Faculty in charge – Pearl Monteiro/Shilpa Singh.
DAY ZERO 21.02.2021
The orientation for the participants regarding the competition format, the rules, and the technical aspect was conducted from 5 to 7 p.m. General orientation was conducted by Dr. Gomati Desai, Om D costa, and Vishesh Kulkarni. Technical orientation was given by Nikhil Araujo and Reuben Pinto. Simultaneously, an orientation session was also conducted for the expert assessors regarding general rules, the scoresheet, and the assessment. It was conducted by Dr. B.S.Patil and Sanjana Kakodkar.
DAY ONE 22.03.2021
The Inaugural for Lex was conducted on 22. 02.2021 from 5 to 6 p.m. through Zoom. The Chief Guest was Hon’ble Justice Sujata Manohar, Retd Supreme Court Judge. The welcome address was given by Shri. Dattaraj Salgaocar, President Devi Sharvani Education Society. This was followed by an address by Mr. Thomas Valenti from AIDR and an overview of Lex Infinitum by Reuben Pinto, President of Lex Infinitum. A short video of the unveiling of trophies was played, followed by the vote of thanks by Dr. Mrunmayi M. Vaidya, Director Lex Infinitum. The compering was done by Rhea Almeida.
After the inaugural, a video of mock mediation was telecasted for participants. It was pre-recorded. The participants in the session were Harsh Joshi (Ex-student), Rhea Almeida, Veda Kerkar, Siddhant Shetye and Rashmi Viegas. It was followed by review by Mr. Thomas Valenti from the AIDR. After the review, there was a training session conducted for mediators and negotiators separately. Training for negotiators was done by Thomas Valenti and training for mediators was done by Tanmay Pandey from the AIDR.
DAY TWO TO DAY SIX 23.02.2021 TO 27.02.2021
F. Competition rounds
Competition was conducted over a period of five days. It consisted of five different problems for each round. There were 9 rooms created for initial 3 days which were managed by 18 volunteers.
23 Feb – Prelims 1 (18 Mediators + 36 Negotiating teams)
24 Feb – Prelims 2 (18 Mediators + 36 Negotiating teams)
25 Feb – Quarter Finals (9 Mediators + 18 Negotiating teams)
26 Feb – Semi- Final (2 Mediators + 4 Negotiating teams)
27 Feb – Final. (Professional Mediator + 2 Negotiating teams)
The Valedictory function was held on 27th from 8 to 9 p.m. It started with a video of musical rendition by the students of V. M.Salgaocar College of Law. The Chief Guest was Prof. Dr. Shrikrishna Deva Rao, Vice Chancellor, National Law University Delhi. Welcome address was given Shri. Bhaskar Nayak, Vice Chairman, Devi Sharvani Education Society. This was followed by Directors address by Dr. Mrunmayi M. Vaidya and address by Mr. Tanmay Pandey, Director AIDR. Mr.Reuben Pinto gave a brief report of Lex. Prize distribution too place thereafter. A short video portraying the background work of lex was played. Vote of thanks was given by Dr.Shaber Ali.G., Principal. With this concluded the 10 days event.
Prize money worth 1,05,000/- and trophies along with e-certificates were awarded.
1) Winning Negotiating Team- (INR 50,000, Trophy, e-certificate) Jagiellonian University, Poland- Marta Nawrocka and Antoni Otalega.
2) Runner-Up Negotiating Team- (INR 20,000, Trophy, e-certificate) NUS, Kaezeel Yeo, Ong Hui Wen, Singapore.
3) Winning Mediator- (INR 25,000, Trophy, e-certificate) Sarfaroj Mullick, National University of Singapore.
4) Runner-Up Mediator – (INR 10,000, Trophy, e-certificate) Rina Hernandez, University of Buffalo School of Law, NY
5) Dr. M.R.K. Prasad Lex Infinitum Incentive Award for Best Mediator from an International Team Newcastle University Law School, Nadia Ashbridge
6) Dr. M.R.K. Prasad Lex Infinitum Incentive Award for Best International Negotiator Team Singapore Management University, Singapore, Komg Pek Yoke, Danielle Sim.
7) Spirit of Lex Ashani Perera, Apiit, Sri Lanka.