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Richmond Law students Keshav Agiwal (far left) and Spencer Hamilton (far right) with Merhige competition participants, which included law students from Brooklyn Law, Catholic Law, GW Law, Liberty, MC Law, Penn State Dickinson Law, St. John’s Law, Texas Tech Law, UNC Law, and USD Law.

Richmond Law Students Revive the Merhige Environmental Negotiation Competition

May 7, 2025
Richmond Law students bring back the Merhige Environmental Negotiation Competition after a six-year hiatus.

After a six-year hiatus, the University of Richmond School of Law successfully revived its Merhige Environmental Negotiation Competition, thanks to the newly formed Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Board (NADR).

The NADR Board, formed two years ago from the merger of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Board and the Client Counseling and Negotiations Board, spent the past two years rebranding and expanding its presence at Richmond Law. The relaunch of the Merhige competition was a key part of this effort.

“Law school teaches us so much about adversarial processes—litigation, trials, winners and losers,” said Keshav Agiwal, the third-year graduating law student who organized the competition along with second-year law student, Spencer Hamilton. “But negotiation and alternative dispute resolution are just as essential, and often overlooked. This competition gave participants a chance to experience what legal collaboration can look like when it’s done well.”

Held over three days during the spring semester, the competition welcomed 16 teams from 10 law schools across the country. The event kicked off with a Friday evening mixer designed to build camaraderie among the visiting teams. Saturday and Sunday featured multiple rounds of negotiations built around evolving case problems. Each team of two students was paired against another, with each side advocating for different clients in a simulated legal scenario.

Feedback from visiting participants was overwhelmingly positive.

“Every aspect of the competition ran smoothly and left me with a highly favorable view of Richmond University in general,” said one competitor. Another shared, “Everyone was so hospitable, kind, organized, and accommodating. We never felt out of the loop or lost … We enjoyed the mixer, LOVE the merch, and just appreciate everyone's good vibes.”

The Merhige Competition was last scheduled for 2020 but was canceled due to COVID-19. With its last successful run in 2018, this year marked a long-awaited return.

“It’s been nearly two years of planning,” Agiwal said. “Bringing this back was not just about hosting an event—it was about restoring a tradition and creating a meaningful opportunity for law students nationwide to explore the power of negotiation.”