Siblings win national contest

The winning team: Siblings Mitch Singh and Roshni Kaur

It is double celebration for an Auckland based family as its brother and sister team won a prestigious national competition, qualifying to appear in a global contest next year.

Mitch Singh and Roshni Kaur of Otago University have emerged as the winners at this year’s Buddle Findlay Negotiation Competition.

The annual competition, run by commercial law firm Buddle Finlay challenges the negotiating skills of budding lawyers studying in a New Zealand University.

The competition begins in the ‘Round Robin’ format, with the participants moving up to finals based on their performance.

A team of two students, representing a client, negotiates either a transaction or the resolution of a dispute with an opposing team of two students representing their own client. Both teams receive a common set of facts as well as confidential information known only to their own team.

The objective of the competition is to negotiate an agreement with the other team.

Competitions are held in university campuses, with a panel of judges comprising Law Faculty members, Buddle Findlay lawyers and other negotiation experts assessing the entrants against a set of parameters.

Teams from five universities were featured in the finals this year. They were Greg Burt and Rita Nabney (Waikato), Lisa Li and Neharika Chowdhary (Auckland), James Biddick and Sarah Cockerill (Canterbury), Kate Stone and Zoe Lawton (Wellington) and Mitch Singh and Roshni Kaur (Otago).

The teams from Otago University and Waikato University went through the final negotiation round at the Wellington office of Buddle Findlay.

Judges for the National Final were Buddle Findlay partners Hamish Kynaston and Steve Nightingale, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Law Unit’s Clare Fernley.

Mitch Singh and Roshni Kaur were declared the national winners at the New Zealand Law Students’ Association conference dinner held at the Grand Hall in Parliament on September 5.

Otago University Law Faculty Dean Professor Mark Henaghan said it was a significant achievement for the brother-sister team, involving hard work “over and above their usual academic study requirements.”

Chew Teck Ann, Principal of Sri Kuala Lumpur, a private school in Malaysia where Mitch and Roshni were students, said they were always winners and seldom failed to surprise their peers and teachers.

“They are the only two who have thus far taken the School to many competitions including debates, elocution, cheerleading and cricket and won every time,” he said.

Their parents, Raj Singh (who works for British Aerospace as Sales Director) and Sharon Sindhu were equally proud.

Mr Singh said he and his wife “motivated, pushed and kept an eye on their every move, as peer pressure makes children do things well and better each time.”

“When that happens, it is hard to say what was right and wrong. Now that they are older, we are more like friends and are able to discuss any subject with them,” he said.

Ms Sandhu said the children display “an uncanny telepathy and are close to each other.”

“They seem to be able to finish off each other’s sentences and know what the other is thinking. Of course, they do have fights that are typical of siblings.

“To have one child doing well is very rewarding but to have both performing well in whatever they do is a blessing,” she said.

In July, this brother and sister duo was runners up out of 30 teams in the Australian Law Students Association in Brisbane, Australia.  

Not that is all work and no play.

Mitch was a DJ at musical and cultural shows while studying at Mt Roskill Grammar School in Auckland, while Roshni is known for her Bollywood dances.

They would also work as bartenders during their summer vacation.

Ms Sindhu is gratified that Sondiyp, their 16-year-old son is also shaping up well.