The Seventh Annual National Representation in Mediation Competition was held in conjunction with the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Annual Conference in Atlanta on April 5-7, 2006. This competition, in which pairs of law students role-play as attorneys and clients, measures how well students model appropriate preparation for and representation of a client in mediation.

Many law schools held intramural competitions to determine which team or teams to send to their Regional Competition, then eighty-eight teams from forty-five schools competed in ten Regional Competitions for the right to advance to the National Finals. Ten teams were invited to compete at the National Competition consisting of students representing the following schools: Fordham Law School, Michigan State University College of Law, Roger Williams University School of Law, Washington & Lee University School of Law, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, American University Washington College of Law, Tulane University Law School, Seattle University School of Law, and South Texas College of Law.

After two preliminary rounds on April 5th and 6th the teams from American, Michigan State, Washington University in St. Louis and Arizona State advanced to the Semi-Final Round. The teams from American and Arizona State advanced to the Championship Round where Kristine Reich and Mikel Steinfeld from Arizona State, coached by Art Hinshaw and Bruce Meyerson, narrowly defeated Whitney Robinson and Sebastian Astrada from American, coached by Dennis Sharp.

The Section would like to thank and congratulate the students and schools who competed at all levels of the Competition this year for their excellent performances in making this year's event a success. The Section also extends its thanks to the numerous conference attendees and local practitioners who volunteered as mediators and judges for the competition. Particular thanks go to the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution, for helping recruit and identify local mediators and attorneys to volunteer with the competition.

The Eighth Annual Representation in Mediation Regional Competitions are scheduled for March of 2007. The Finals will be held in conjunction with the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Eighth Annual Conference in April 2007 in Washington, DC. For more information, visit the Representation in Mediation Competition website at http://www.abanet.org/dispute/mediationcomp.html.