Moot Report 2025: University of Manitoba Represents at Canadian National Negotiation Competition

Three University of Manitoba Faculty of Law teams from Robson Hall recently competed in the ninth annual Canadian National Negotiation Competition (CNNC). The competition was held at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law in Windsor on March 7th and 8^th, 2025, and had both a French and an English stream. Against a talented field of the best law student negotiators from across Canada, the three UM teams of Larissa Einarson and Kirsten Nynych; Heather Peterson and Erin Kyriakopoulos; and Tess Poulton and Maia Bacchus put in extremely strong showings.  The Manitoba teams were expertly coached by three Robson Hall alumni: Andrea Doyle, an Instructor at the University of Manitoba; Andrew Torbiak, who practises Estates and Trusts with Tradition Law; and Heather Wadsworth, who practises family law at Wadsworth Family Law.

I was involved in assisting with the administration of the competition, and I heard praise from many people, including judges, coaches, and fellow competitors, about their performances.

The pair of Heather Peterson and Erin Kyriakopoulos, who competed in the English stream, even received the award for “Best Process Management”, which goes to the team that best demonstrates skills in time management, preparation, adaptability, and self-reflection. Erin explained, “I feel privileged to have had Heather Peterson for my partner in the process, whose dynamism and ability to turn a phrase I deeply admire.” 

Heather Peterson and Erin Kyriakopoulos, received the award for “Best Process Management” (English stream) which goes to the team that best demonstrates skills in time management, preparation, adaptability, and self-reflection.

A Bit More About the CNNC

Nine years ago, the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law hosted the inaugural national negotiation competition at Robson Hall, which has been run annually since then.  The size of the competition has been growing each year, both in terms of total teams participating and number of law schools represented. 

The 2025 competition was hosted by the University of Windsor Faculty of Law, in collaboration with the Windsor Law Centre for Cities. The competition was generously sponsored by the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law.

This year’s competition theme was “Negotiating Housing”, and the competition problem involved negotiations between a municipality and a First Nation over the construction of infrastructure and affordable housing on a greenfield site.  The writing of the problem was a truly collaborative effort, with input from Professors from the University of Manitoba, the University of New Brunswick, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Windsor.

This year, the competition involved three rounds of negotiation taking place over two days, with each round building on the last. Issues to be negotiated included the building of infrastructure; the purchase and supply of power from a hydroelectric power plant on the reserve; the construction of affordable housing units; the allocation of the housing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people; the use/development of various recreational spaces; and most importantly, the reconciliation of the relationship between the municipality and the First Nation. For every round, each team possessed confidential details about client circumstances and settlement preferences.  The first two rounds were bi-party, with the last round involving a more complex four-party negotiation. Heather Peterson had the following observations about the problem: “The fact pattern for this year’s CNNC was very dense and multifaceted with a daunting four-party negotiation for the final round. I was very pleased to see that the theme included extremely important and topical challenges around housing, conservancy, and reconciliation.”

 All of the negotiating took place under the scrutiny of judges, who scored each team’s negotiation skills.  At the end of each session, the judges provided detailed feedback to each team about what they did well, and potential areas for improvement. 

The competition has always had an educational component, and this year was no exception.  There was a pre-competition symposium involving two panels.  The first panel focused on challenges and breakthroughs in how housing problems have been framed, debated and addressed.  The second panel involved an examination of the successes and challenges of housing in Indigenous communities. Yvan Larocque, Clinical Counsel here at the University of Manitoba and well-respected Indigenous business lawyer, was one of the speakers on the second panel, and discussed his experiences advising and representing Indigenous communities with economic development generally, and housing specifically. He was also one of the judges for the French stream of the competition.

Panelists left to right: Professor Dan Brant and Yvan Larocque.

French Stream 

This was the third year that the CNNC ran a parallel French stream, and this year saw the most teams ever participating in that stream. Teams competed in French using a translated version of the same problems as in the English stream.

The University of Manitoba Faculty of Law once again continued its participation in the French stream with skillful negotiators. Maia Bacchus and Tess Poulton, students in the Access to Justice in French Concentration, were excellent representatives of Robson Hall. Students in this Concentration pursue part of their legal studies in French by completing at least 26 credits of bilingual courses, including the French Negotiation course (Négociation juridique).

Andrea Doyle commented,

“I am pleased with how Maia and Tess demonstrated their excellent negotiation skills and strategies as well as their ability to represent clients in French at this year’s CNNC. They worked hard and impressed the judges with their preparation, complementary negotiating styles and insightful questions.

“Preparation for the CNNC was a team effort. Support was provided by our students who participated in the English stream (Erin, Heather, Larissa and Kirsten) and their coaches, Andrew Torbiak and Heather Wadsworth. Chris Dick of Norton Rose Fulbright Canada and Kennedy Pinette of MLT Aikins, both graduates of the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law, provided valuable advice and feedback to Tess and Maia.

“We appreciate the CNNC organizing committee’s work in continuing to expand the French stream providing students an important opportunity to apply their negotiation skills in French. We wish to thank Justice Canada, the Faculty of Law and members of the Franco-Manitoban legal community for supporting the Access to Justice in French Concentration. We also wish to acknowledge and thank the Faculty of Law and the Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law for their support of our negotiation teams.”

Student Experiences

The student competitors had an opportunity to reflect about their experiences after the competition concluded. All agreed that the competition was an invaluable experience, one they would highly recommend to their fellow law students.

The students emphasized the valuable professional skills acquired from the competition. “This experience has highlighted for me the importance of making space for collaboration and creativity in legal work,” said Erin. “I am confident that the skills I have honed and lessons I have learned through participating in CNNC will serve me in my future legal career.”

Kirsten described her acquisition of skills as follows: “The CNNC was a highlight of law school. Thanks to our fantastic coaches, we were able to further develop our negotiating skills that we will take into practice. The weekend was an exhilarating few days filled with collegiality, collaboration, and friendly competition. I feel truly blessed to have been able to participate!”

Regarding the impact of the competition on her skill-building, Larissa explained, “Collaborating with my partner and coaches to develop strategies for representing our clients’ interests not only enhanced my legal skills but also strengthened my ability to communicate, think critically, and adapt under pressure—skills that will serve me well as a lawyer and in everyday life. Applying these skills in a competitive setting was both challenging and rewarding.”

Heather Peterson found the final round particularly valuable, stating,  “The four-party negotiation was invigorating and infused with so much kindness and goodwill; I think it was excellent practice for the realities of legal practice where multiple interests and communities must figure out a way to equitably share resources.” 

The students also viewed the competition as an opportunity to network with and learn from law students from other schools. Heather Peterson explained, “It was absolutely awe-inspiring to negotiate with exceptionally talented law students from across Canada. The ways in which different teams incorporated environmentalism and aspects of truth and reconciliation were profound, and I was so excited to be a part of it.”

“It was inspiring to engage with law students from across the country. The level of professionalism and talent demonstrated by the other competitors underscored the strength of the next generation of Canadian lawyers.” – Larissa Einarson, 3L

All of the coaches were filled with praise for the students’ performances.  For example, coach Andrew Torbiak said, “The weekend of the CNNC is the culmination of months of practice, preparation and improvement. I couldn’t be more proud of Kirsten, Larissa, Erin and Heather, this year’s English competition representatives from Robson Hall, for the time and effort that they put into this competition.

“When I was a student negotiator, the fact patterns we dealt with typically involved simple, everyday contractual arrangements, or dealt with the aftermath of some outrageous or unrealistic incident between the parties. This year, the team grappled with scenarios involving access to clean drinking water and affordable housing, and building relationships between government and Indigenous peoples, all in the context of Reconciliation.

“Our students approached this subject matter with sensitivity and respect for the interests of their client and represented their school and province admirably. I’d like to thank each of them for being such a pleasure to work with.”

The admiration went both ways, as all of the students mentioned the extreme gratitude they felt for the invaluable mentorship of the coaches. 

Story submitted by Dr. Bruce Curran, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, UM, and an organizer of the CNNC.