Hollywood, Florida native Sarah Davis is part of a select group of students and mediation experts from Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law which earned second place in the seventh International Commercial Mediation Competition, hosted by the International Chamber of Commerce on February 9.

Reaching the final round of the contest for the first time, the Bar-Ilan team competed against the South Texas College of Law.  Additional teams from Harvard, Columbia and Cornell Universities, and the London School of Economics also took part in the Competition, held in Paris, France.

"This was an incredible opportunity that I learned a lot from," said Davis. "I was privileged to meet some of the best mediators in the world and speak to them personally. I think we represented Israel beautifully and I'm very proud of the team's accomplishments," she added.  Davis, a graduate of Weinbaum Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton, is now finishing up her LL.B.  She will begin an internship shortly at an Israel law firm and take the Bar exam next year.

Featuring over 140 mock mediation sessions based on real cross-border commercial disputes, the Competition tested the problem-solving skills of 66 teams from 32 countries.

"The Competition was a wonderful experience for our team," said Adv. Livni, who coached the Bar-Ilan group. "The educational value was enormous.  We had the opportunity to learn from leading mediators and scholars, receive their comments and improve our skills."  The Bar-Ilan team was also represented by Baltimore native Aryeh Abramowitz, Ariel Chesner, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and Israeli Zac Rechtschaffen.

The aim of the annual Competition is to train law and business students to better meet the dispute resolution needs of today's global market, to know how and when to efficiently use mediation and how to deal with the cultural sensitivities implied in this process.  It gives students an opportunity to test their problem-solving skills in international commercial cases in which they take the role of client and counsel while some of the world's leading mediators participate to help the students work towards a solution.

This is the third time that Bar-Ilan has participated in the Competition.  The University's Law School, which is supported by the American Friends of Bar-Ilan University, offers an LL.M. in mediation, and operates a clinic for mediation and conflict resolution.