School of Law Negotiation Team Advances to Final Round in Regional Competition

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School of Law students Kelly Comer and Matt Kezhaya negotiating

Second-year University of Arkansas School of Law students Kelly Comer and Matt Kezhaya advanced to the final round of the Region VIII tournament of the American Bar Association Negotiation Competition. The School of Law team finished third in the tournament, which was held in New Orleans, La. Twenty-five teams from law schools in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas competed.

The tournament consisted of two preliminary rounds in which the students negotiated public and private facts to reach a compromise in matters dealing with small business ventures and noncompetition law. Comer and Kezhaya’s final round saw them face off against the winners of the competition, Texas Tech University. The Arkansas team had defeated the competition runners-up, Texas Wesleyan, in a prior round.

Fellow second-year School of Law students Tim Alexander and Michael Beasley also competed in the tournament and developed the Arkansas teams’ strategy over a month’s time with Comer, Kezhaya and professors Kathryn Sampson and Tim Tarvin.