Competitions Provide Direct Counseling, Negotiating and Advocacy Experience

Have you studied criminal law? Are you interested in personal injury law? Were you a debater in high school or college, or maybe an actor? Have you done moot court or a trial practice class? Do you like role playing? Do you intend to practice law in the near future? If any of these apply to you-or even if they don't-there may be a national competition in your future. The American Bar Association's Law Student Division runs three competitions each year, in Client Counseling Negotiation, and Appellate Advocacy.

The Client Counseling Competition (CCC) is a second-semester event. Twelve regional competitions take place in February, with the national finals in March. The winning team gets invited to the international competition. That's what happened to Kristi Kessler. Kessler, a third-year student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Law, was a member of the winning Client Counseling team last year. She is now National Student Director for the CCC.

This competition places law students in the role of lawyers interviewing a new client. For the 1999 competition, the CCC focused on criminal law. The two-member teams conduct an initial client interview, from the opening chitchat, through the description of the conflict, to the advice. Local actors or theater students play the clients, who may be told to withhold certain vital pieces of information unless specifically asked about them.

Judges grade on a variety of criteria, including how well the team members established a rapport with the client, whether they established the facts necessary to give proper advice, the quality of their advice, whether they explored non-legal options, and whether they acted ethically. There are usually three judges-two practicing lawyers or law professors, and one representative of the counseling profession, perhaps a psychologist or dean of students.

The entry deadline for next year's CCC is October 31, 1999.

The Negotiation Competition (NC) starts in the fall, with 10 regional competitions. The regional winners compete at the national finals, scheduled for February 2000 at the ABA's mid-year meeting in Dallas. Victoria Wu, the National Student Director for the Negotiation Competition and a third-year student at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, explains that teams consist of two law students; each team is given a general problem and confidential information about its client. Two teams negotiate with each other for 50 minutes in front of a panel of judges. While the judges complete their evaluations, the teams prepare a self-analysis discussing the session. The teams then meet separately with the judges for feedback on technique and style.

The entry deadline for next year's Negotiation competition is September 30, 1999.

The National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) is a moot court competition. It starts in the schools, with teams competing for the right to represent their law school at one of four regional competitions generally held in February or March. The national competition is in April. As with most moot courts, student teams brief the problem, then present oral arguments to a panel of judges.

Jo Linda Johnson, a third-year student at The George Washington University Law School, competed in the CCC last year and is now National Student Director for the NAAC. After watching some of the oral arguments last year, Johnson says it is a very competitive competition. "The competitors were fantastic. I go to law school in Washington, D.C., and I've seen oral arguments at the Supreme Court that would pale in comparison."

Application deadline for the next NAAC is November 30, 1999.

For information concerning any of the competitions, contact the Law Student Division, American Bar Association, 750 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60611, 312/988-5624.

Lee Farbman
Lee Farbman, a third-year student at Northwestern University School of Law, is Student Lawyer's student editor.