South Texas College of Law Houston student Amanda Gordon won first place at the Jeffry S. Abrams National Mediator Competition, hosted by the University of Houston’s Blakely Advocacy Institute, October 7-8, 2016. Students Lily Kao and Taylor Pound also represented the law school in the competition.
Sixteen students from nine law schools across the country participated in the competition, which includes five rounds of mediation problems. In each round, competitors were judged on their effectiveness in demonstrating neutrality, explaining the mediation process, active listening, and other pertinent mediation skills. This is the second win for South Texas College of Law Houston in the four years the law school has competed in the Abrams Competition; both winning teams were coached by Kristyn Koch ’14.
South Texas College of Law Houston’s alternative dispute resolution teams regularly compete in up to nine events each year—more than any other law school in Texas. The law school’s rigorous selection process, combined with the leadership of program director Debra Berman and several dedicated alumni coaches, has garnered the school 11 national and international first-place wins in recent years.