Rhea Sasha, a final-year undergraduate law student at Kent Law School, was recently named Runner-Up Counsel at the 4th Virtual International Client Counselling Competition (VICCC ’26), hosted by MediateGuru.
The competition brought together talented law students from across the globe to demonstrate excellence in client counselling. Rhea’s achievement is a testament to her analytical ability, professionalism, and commitment to client-centred legal practice.
Experiences such as VICCC exemplify how our students apply the knowledge and skills developed at Kent Law School in international and practice-focused settings. Below, Rhea reflects in her own words on her experience competing on the global stage and her aspirations as she prepares to qualify as a Solicitor in England and Wales.
“My name is Rhea Sasha, and I am currently a final-year undergraduate law student at the University.
I was raised in Miami, FL and was educated there for the majority of my life. After high school, I attended Michigan State University to study Social Relations and Policy in 2022, before joining Kent Law School in 2023.
The Mediate Guru international client interviewing competition focused on promoting knowledge and skills in preventative law and the counselling aspects of legal practice. I entered the competition after being selected by Lucinda Griffiths upon completing the Client Interviewing module under the Lawyering Skills courses. Over the course of three days, I was partnered with individuals from around the world to interview clients in several practice areas such as contract law and intellectual property. It was an excellent opportunity to build on my analytical skills while also gaining further confidence in maintaining strong lawyer-client relationships.
In fact, several of the concepts I used in the competition stemmed from the legal knowledge I acquired at Kent. Even if I came across terms or areas of law I had not seen before, the critical thinking skills gained from my degree at KLS enabled me to approach each scenario in a way that would prioritize the clients’ needs and develop a deeper understanding of their problem.
As this is my final year, I am planning to continue my aspirations to qualify as an England and Wales Solicitor by taking the SQE exam. Based on my experience in the competition and time at KLS, if I could impart any advice to other students, it would be to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to you. As, each one will provide you with the chance to identify your strengths and interests, as well as what you wish to achieve. Most importantly, keep persevering, a win is sure to come your way!”
Lucinda Griffiths, Client Interviewing Lead at Kent Law School, explains that ‘providing students with an opportunity to showcase their practical lawyering skills at an international level is something that KLS strives to do. Participating in the MediateGuru Virtual Client Counselling Competition for the first time this year allowed four of our top scoring Client Interviewing students to compete against over 30 teams worldwide. I was incredibly proud of Rhea taking second place overall and I’m excited to see what’s next for her and all our competing students. I would definitely encourage students to take such opportunities given to them at KLS to develop these ‘real life’ lawyering skills which will further enrich their studies and University experience.’
Kent’s Client Interviewing module is one of five lawyering skills that students can undertake as part of our Co-curricular Lawyering Skills Programme.