A new law club on the ISU campus has put the national spotlight on a group of college students.

Three members of the Iowa State Mediation Club, Jennifer Fairchild, Tyler Spillman and Julian Medrano, all seniors in finance, have a grand total of a month-and-a-half of experience in a competition in which the battlefield is the art of compromise.

The contest, which pits one mediating team against another, is judged by guest lawyers who score the teams based on their ability to find settlements in legal disputes.

“It’s the same thing as mock trial, only instead of having a trial you have two mediators that act as go-betweens,” said Spillman, who also said there are two other roles to the contest – the advocate and the client.

In their second competition last weekend, the National Championship Tournament, the trio placed sixth out of 30 collegiate teams and Spillman earned the highest overall score for any mediator, earning him All-American Mediator status in the competition.

“This has been all last-minute for us. Which is another thing that made it so very surprising that we did as well as we did,” Spillman said.

He said it is almost completely unheard of that a team so new did so well.

The group started when Fairchild was contacted by Richard Calkins, creator of the American Mock Trial Association and former dean of the Drake University Law School in Des Moines, in hopes of starting a team at Iowa State.

Calkins, a family friend of Fairchild, explained that most cases never make it to trial, as they are settled through mediation.

“Instead of going to court, where one person has to win and the other person has to lose, people are going to mediation where both parties win. It’s a win-win situation,” Calkins said.

However, the fact that all three members are seniors makes the club’s future uncertain, and not having official recognition from the ISU Government of the Student Body doesn’t help. Fairchild, however, views the obstacles before the club as minor challenges.

“I’m trying to start a pre-law tournament club,” Fairchild said, adding that the club would feature the mediation club, a moot court team, and up to two mock trial teams. Moot court usually refers to a simulated appellate trial, while mock trial usually refers to a simulated jury trial.

Calkins is confident in the club’s prospects, even though Iowa State doesn’t offer a pre-law degree, and is hoping to coach the club again next year.