TALLAHASSEE — Two Florida State University College of Law students have won first place in the 2011 American Bar Association Regional Negotiation Competition. The competition was held in Raleigh, North Carolina, on November 12-13. The students now advance to the national competition, scheduled for February 3-4 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Winning team members are first-year students Jared Snyder, of Coral Springs, Florida, and William Thompson, of Jacksonville, Florida. They were coached by P. Gregory “Greg” Jones, who is special counsel at the Florida Department of Transportation.

 “We are all so proud of Will and Jared, especially since Florida State was the only school with first-year law students participating in the competition” said Dean Don Weidner. “Special thanks go to the student competitors and to their coach.”

Twenty-eight teams representing 14 law schools competed in the event, which was open to schools from seven southeastern states and Puerto Rico. Florida State’s winning team beat Samford University in the first round, University of Miami in the second round and Emory University in the finals. Other schools competing included University of Florida, University of Georgia and University of North Carolina.

This victory adds to a long list of recent student competition successes for Florida State. Since 2010, the Moot Court Team has won first place in one international competition and in five national competitions. In November 2011, the Mock Trial Team won first place for the second year in a row in the Florida Justice Association’s E. Earle Zehmer Mock Trial Competition.