Client Counseling Competition

Client Counseling is quite possibly the most important skill to possess in the practice of law. Before any negotiation, trial, or appellate work can be done for a client, the lawyer must first learn about the client’s problems, analyze whether or not the lawyer is qualified (or willing) to handle the case for the client, educate the client to a certain extent, and get hired by the client. In the real world, many lawyers do not spend enough time counseling and advising their clients at the initial interview. This is the time for the lawyer to learn about the client’s needs; to solicit a representation agreement with the client; to advise the client on proper courses of action for the client’s desired resolution or effective disposition of the matter; and to suggest ways to possibly solve the client’s problem with no further action. These skills are vital to an effective and growing practice of law.

This time spent planning for this competition is not overbearing. The Board of Barristers, with that in mind, traditionally holds the Client Counseling competition for One L’s in the first semester of school before any of the other competitions and while students are settling in to law school life. Coincidentally, this configuration works from a practical stand point as well. An attorney must first obtain a client before proceeding to the negotiating table, to the courtroom, or to the appellate court’s podium. In essence, client counseling is the first step in legal representation.

For the purposes of this competition, two counselors comprise one team. Competitors are free to choose their own teammate, but if a competitor is unable to find a teammate, the Board may pair up two single competitors upon theirrequest. The competition proceeds as follows:

1. Competitors sign up as a team on the designated days.
2. Competitors attend a mandatory meeting given by the Client Counseling committee.
3. Competitors are given a brief synopsis (two to three sentences) to go by the day of the competition.
4. Clients are given a more detailed fact pattern, held secret from the competitors, so that the competitors will need to investigate the client’s problems through interviewing the client.
5. At the close of the client interview, competitors are expected to evaluate themselves and formulate action items per the counseling session.
6. Judges are present during both the client interview and evaluation sections and judge the success of the competitors according to the scoring sheet that follows.