On October 17-18, the UF Securities Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) team competed in the Securities ADR Triathlon at St. John’s University in Manhattan. Christopher Pavilonis (LLM) coached the team, which comprised Michael Burns (2L), John Montague (2L), and Jason Yoepp (2L).

The UF team placed first and received a gold medal in Securities Mediation. The team defeated Harvard in the second round of the competition. In addition, the UF team placed second in Securities Arbitration defeating Pace University in the third round of the competition.

St. John’s University and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) co-sponsored the competition, which involved 14 teams. The triathlon consisted of three forms of alternative dispute resolution: Negotiation, Mediation, and Arbitration. The competition involved a broker accused by one of his clients of selecting unsuitable investments for the client and engaging in churning of stocks in the client’s account. The competition was judged by FINRA neutrals who serve as judges, mediators and arbitrators during the competition. This was the first year of the competition.

The Association for Tax Law fielded the team for the competition.