Law students represent Cardiff at national negotiation battle
23 April 2026
Two Cardiff law students flew the flag for Cardiff at a recent national negotiation competition.
Molly Povey, Law with Professional Placement Year (year 4) and Charlotte Perry, LLB (year 2) came second at this year’s National Final of the England and Wales Negotiation Competition on Saturday 21 March, hosted at Swansea Law School and sponsored by the Centre for Dispute Resolution (CEDR).
Molly and Charlotte were the most successful team to compete from a Welsh university which means they will now represent the School and Wales again, at the International Final taking place in Nova Scotia, Canada in June 2026.
The annual competition sees students battling through rounds designed to test their negotiation skills. The competition gives participants the opportunity to work on real life scenarios where collaborative-based discussions take place and a confident awareness of wider interests, creative options, and persuasion techniques are required.
This year’s competition saw the team compete across a wide range of situations and sectors. Molly and Charlotte’s first scenario was a 3-way negotiation to secure a supply chain for agricultural machinery when a country had unilaterally imposed tariffs. Their second negotiation was on behalf of a century-old high-end fashion house that had suffered reputational damage when a partnership with an avant-garde designer went wrong. Finally, the team negotiated on behalf of Manchester City Council in a deal involving the building of a multi-million pound music stadium. Despite being fictitious, these scenarios help develop commercial awareness and how law cannot be considered in a vacuum.
Speaking of the event, Molly said, “The competition was an incredible experience, even if I never want to hear the word ‘tariff’ again! It required a lot of preparation, but it was incredibly rewarding, and I found negotiation far more engaging than I expected.”
Charlotte reflected on the competition by saying “It was one of the most nerve-racking but exciting experiences, and I really enjoyed meeting and competing against everyone. I’m now excited for the opportunity to represent Cardiff University internationally.”
Molly and Charlotte are fantastic ambassadors for our School. They both spent many hours in the library preparing for complex commercial negotiations and it really showed on the day. I am very proud of Team Cardiff. One of the judges said that it was the best student negotiation they had ever seen and to be ranked second in the whole country is a significant achievement.
Law students at the School of Law and Politics are able to develop a range of skills via extracurricular activities which focus on the development of practical competences including negotiation and client interviewing.
Find out more about the National Negotiation Competition on the CEDR website.