Interview with Prof. Hiro Aragaki | Professor of Law, University of California College of Law, San Francisco

Collaboration between NLSIU and UC-Law SF

NLSIU has an ongoing collaboration with the University of California College of Law, San Francisco (UC- Law SF) to deliver negotiation and mediation lessons to NLSIU’s students through a unique experiential learning method. As a part of the efforts of the D.C. Singhania Chair on Alternative Dispute Resolution at NLSIU, a mediation elective was offered by Prof. Dwight Golann (Research Professor, Suffolk University and UC- Law SF) in the last Academic Year 2023-24 to eligible law students at NLSIU. Continuing these efforts, we hosted Prof. Hiro Aragaki and Ms. Tara Ollapally (Co-Founder, Centre for Advanced Mediation Practice) on campus this term, along with Prof. Dwight Golann who joined us via online video conference sessions.

About the Module

Speaking about the module, Sahana Ramesh, Assistant Professor of Law at NLS, said: “This academic year, the experiential learning module was delivered to an expanded audience of 3rd year BA LLB (Hons) students. Conducted over the course of two weeks, Prof. Aragaki, Prof. Golann and Ms. Ollapally led classes within the core course on Alternative Dispute Resolution (Clinic). The classes served as an introduction to negotiation and mediation skills, and as a springboard for students who may be interested in pursuing and honing these skills through elective courses or otherwise.”

Interview with Prof. Hiro Aragaki

Can you tell us more about the course you offered at NLS? Please elaborate on the practical skills or different techniques that you brought into the classroom sessions.

We offered a two week module on negotiation and mediation in the Third Year ADR Clinic class taught by Sahana Ramesh and others. During the first week, Professor Dwight Golann (via Zoom) covered the basics of negotiation such as the distinction between positions and interests, BATNA, and the importance of principles and objective standards. He was assisted here on campus by Ms. Tara Ollapally of CAMP Arbitration and Mediation Practice. In the second week, I covered mediation primarily through the lens of mediation advocacy.  I used a case study known as Mumbai Partners v. Medpro, which is based on a role play simulation involving an Indian and US company authored by Prof. Golann.  Last year, we filmed a video of this role-play featuring the preeminent Indian Mediator Sriram Panchu and I showed short clips from this video during the classes.

Since this is your first time on campus, how was it teaching here at NLSIU?

I loved visiting NLSIU and having the opportunity to interact with students.  The students definitely lived up to their reputation – I found them to be very bright and motivated to learn about mediation.  I was also impressed by all the new buildings on campus—especially the library, which looks better than many law school libraries in the US!

One main difference I found is that in the US, we tend to teach ADR subjects in small sections that range in size from about 15-30 students.  This allows us to do many simulated role-plays and exercises that help students ‘learn by doing’ and acquire practical skills in addition to theory.  Students give each other feedback after each simulation and the professor guides them in a class-wide debrief of the simulation, which is where most of the learning comes during out.  By contrast, at NLSIU the class I taught had 180 students—a record for me.  This made it a little challenging to do simulations and generate deeper discussions, so I changed the format of how I normally teach this material.

Is there any material/book/podcast, etc that you would recommend to students who are interested in ADR?

I would highly recommend viewing clips of the Mumbai Partners v. MedPro mediation role play that we filmed at NLSIU last year, with Mr. Panchu along with some top lawyers and business professionals in Bengaluru. It’s rare for anyone to be able to observe a mediator of Mr. Panchu’s calibre in action, so this is a very unique resource.  Even though it was a simulation, everyone helped make it very realistic. Anyone interested to view it can access the full set of clips here.