Lawyers in practice spend most of their days gathering and interpreting facts and then helping clients make informed decisions. To be effective interviewers, advisers and counselors lawyers need to recognize and appreciate the client, not just as a legal problem, but as a person with a legal problem. They need, therefore, to be able to:

 

Establish good professional working relationships with clients.

Understand how clients view their problems.

Appreciate the client’s needs an expectations.

Explore the available options and consider the consequences.

Develop strategies to help clients resolve their problems.

Recognize and deal with moral and ethical issues.

 

The International Competition

The Louis M Brown International Client Counselling Compettion provides an opportunity for law students to learn and practice these interviewing and counseling skills. In 1969 Louis M Brown established a Client Counselling Competition for law students which was adopted by The Americal Bar Association in 1972. The Internaitonal Competition was inaugurated in 1985 and now brings together the winning teams of law students from national competitions in the United States, Canada, England and Wales, Scotland, Australia, Eire and Northern Ireland. The International Competition was named after Louis M Brown in 1993 in recognition of the inspiration provided by the originator of the competition. The winners’ names are inscribed on the Louis M Brown plaque awarded as the competition trophy. The winners also receive prizes donated by the International Bar Association.

Louis M Brown died in 1996 – the competition lives on as a tribute to him.

 

Organisation of the Competition

Both the National and International Competitions simulate a law office interview. Teams of two students interview a ‘client’ and are judged according to agreed criteria, which are based upon the essential skills. Each judging panel consists of a practicing lawyer, an academic lawyer and an experienced counselor. The National Committee for each country is responsible for organizing the International Competition and the associated educational and cultural events on a rota basis. The International Competition became affiliated to the International Bar Association in 1993 with the aim of prompting the competition.

 

Each National Competition relies on sponsorship from the legal profession and the universities who generously host the Competition. Additionally students appreciate the involvement and support of the practitioners on the judging panels.

 

The Executive Chair of the International Competition is responsible for the expansion of the competition into new countries, fund raising and the general administration of the competition. All professional time in both the International and the National Competitions is donated on a pro bono basis.

 

Education and Cultural Benefits

The International Competition provides participants with the opportunity to widen their knowledge and understanding of substantive law issues, legal systems, legal education and professional practice both in their own and other countries. These different perspectives are provided by visits to courts, law firms and law faculties.

 

 

The Future

 As the world becomes more interdependent, there is an increased need for lawyers trained in counseling skills who also have an appreciation and awareness of an intercultural perspective. The Competition would like to expand the number of countries that teach client counseling skills through national competitions and enable those countries to send representatives to the annual International Competition.

 

There is also a continuing need for conferences and academic research on intercultural counseling, preventive law and dispute resolution. We hope to continue to provide and expand those programmes in the future.

 

What you can do

You can help the International Client Counselling Competition in the following ways:

 

Law firms and individuals can make donations to support annual operational expenses or to endow a particular educational programme.

 

Law professors, lawyers, and other interested person are needed to promote client cousnelling in law school curricula and to develop domestic competitions throughout the world.

 

Interested persons can plan to attend the International Competition and participate in its activities and events.