Liberty Law student wins national mediator competition

Liberty University School of Law opened its competition season with a national victory, as 3L Briley Boan won the UHLC National Mediator Competition, and 2L Christen Capobianco placed third in the 14-competitor field on Oct. 3-4.

Boan and Capobianco are both members of Liberty Law’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) team. Liberty Law’s ADR team allows law students to apply their classroom knowledge in extracurricular competitions. One form of alternative dispute resolution that the ADR team focuses on is mediation, in which lawyers facilitate collaborative discussion between opposing parties to help them reach an agreement and resolve disputes with the goal of avoiding court and further conflict.

The UHLC National Mediator Competition, which was hosted virtually, marked the season’s first contest for Liberty Law competition teams.

“The point of mediation is you’re supposed to let both sides have a productive conversation with each other,” Capobianco said. “Your role is to facilitate discussions. It’s not to talk the most, and that’s something I’m not used to. You want to ask questions that will spark conversation between both of them. And if they go down the wrong path, then it’s your job to rein them in and have them talk about relevant things.”

Each competitor served as a mediator and participated in two preliminary rounds, each lasting a couple hours and featuring entirely different case facts, clients, student attorneys, and judges. After both rounds, competitors’ cumulative scores determined the top four who would advance to the semifinals.

Boan, also a member of Liberty Law’s Trial and Moot Court teams, attributed her first-place finish to the “vital support system” at Liberty Law, which she said was critical in developing her competitive edge.

“Not only do we have faculty and staff here investing hours coaching us, but also my own classmates invested countless hours in us,” Boan said. “The ADR board sat down and gave us a substantial amount of feedback, so that was a lot of what I think contributed to my success.”

The semifinals featured a new set of case facts, which were reused in the final round along with additional details for competitors to consider. Rather than being determined by cumulative scores, the results between the two finalists were decided by a majority vote among three judges.

Boan said she enjoyed participating in the competition because the practice of ADR reflects the biblical model detailed in Matthew 18, where Jesus outlined a step-by-step process for resolving interpersonal conflicts with the purpose of restoration.

“ADR is patently biblical,” Boan said. “Both parties have come together to avoid court, so trying to resolve a dispute before it has to escalate (is) walking through the biblical model well.”

Capobianco said participating in ADR has helped her better understand her professional interests and consider how she might utilize her law degree in the future.

“I think ADR is a really good way to express yourself as a person,” Capobianco said. “When you come to law school, you have certain things preset for you. You have to take certain classes, and you don’t get to choose those. But the things you do get to choose are the extracurriculars you want to be involved in. ADR is one of them, and it says a lot about your personality when you want to do a competition team like ADR.”

“If you’re able to navigate mediation really well, it probably suggests that you are willing to work with others, listen to others, and resolve conflicts,” she added. “I’ve learned that you can use this in really any setting outside of being a lawyer. You can use this in friendships, with family. It’s basically good communication skills and the ability to resolve conflict.”

With an intentional focus on experiential and skills-based learning, Liberty Law fields competition teams that allow its students to sharpen their advocacy skills through trial, moot court, client counseling, ADR, and other types of competitions. Interested students can email Law@Liberty.edu.