Kent Law School hosted competitors from around the world for the Brown-Mosten International Client Competition 2017, held at the Canterbury campus of the University of Kent from 19-22 April.
20 countries were represented in the international competition, with teams (all of whom were winners of national client consultation competitions) involved in consultations on a range problematic scenarios based on residential neighbours.
The final round saw teams from Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland interviewing a client in dispute with their downstairs neighbour. A final judging panel (including Forrest S. Mosten, and Joe Egan, Vice President of the Law Society of England and Wales) adjudged Neil Nolan and Conor Cawley from the Law Society of Ireland as the winners (along with their coach and National Representative Jane Moffat). The team from Ireland (pictured) finished ahead of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies, Belfast (represented by Hannah McGrath and Roisin Higgins) and Aberdeen University, Scotland (represented by Jennifer Baird and Euan Thompson).
The Brown-Mosten International Client Competition provides an opportunity for law students to learn and practice interviewing and counselling skills, and to meet young lawyers from a range of nations and cultures. It is is an annual event which encourages the promotion and development of skills involved with client interviewing and counselling in the legal sphere within an educational context. These soft skills entail an interview of a ‘client’ conducted by a pair of law students in a simulated law office. They interview and advise a ‘client’ and are assessed according to a set of criteria, including interpersonal skills as well as their ability to handle a legal problem.
The 2017 competition welcomed teams from Australia, Russia, Ukraine, USA, Canada, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Germany, Turkey, New Zealand, Finland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, Netherlands, India, Switzerland and Poland. Local legal practitioners, university academics and counsellors attended the first two days and helped judge 40 heats to whittle it down to nine teams in the semi and three teams for the final. The event finished with an Awards Dinner at the Cathedral Lodge in Canterbury.
Joe Thompson, module convenor of the Client Interviewing module in Kent Law School and organiser of this international competition, was thrilled that so many countries were able to attend this year’s event: “I am astounded every year at the quality of the interviewing by the law students but this year has been exceptional. The highlight of these types of event is that the students all come together and forge links that will hopefully last a lifetime.”
Read and see more pictures from the event on the Brown-Mosten International Client Competition website and the Facebook page for the event.