RALEIGH – Campbell Law advocates have earned yet another regional championship this time at 2021 American Bar Association (ABA) Client Counseling Competition held virtually Feb. 5-6, Campbell Law Dean J. Rich Leonard announced. It is the third year in a row Campbell Law advocates have won this particular regional championship.
Campbell Law served as a regional host for the competition that was held virtually via Zoom.
“We hosted nine teams, 27 judges, countless clients and student ambassadors and more Zoom rooms than we care to remember,” said Professor Tony Ghiotto, director of the law school’s award-winning Advocacy Program. “The end result, though, was a stellar competition that allowed students to enhance their ability to counsel clients.”
Second-year law students Miriam Sheppard and Tabitha Cooke are Campbell Law’s newest Regional Client Counseling Champions. Coached by Skylar Gallagher ‘19 and Zack Anstett ’18, the team advances to the National Finals for ABA Client Counseling Competition on March 18-20. In 2020, Campbell Law’s client counseling team of Amber Younce ’21 and Grace Massarelli ’21, also coached by Anstett ’18 of Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP, also won the Regional Championship and made it to the semi-finals in the first-ever virtual national competition in March 2020. In 2019 the team of Tatiana Terry (’19) and Katie Webb Miller (’19) won the Regional, National and World Championship titles.
“Please take time to congratulate Tabitha Cooke and Miriam Sheppard on their win – it was a hard fought competition and they performed amazingly, especially as 2Ls in a predominantly 3L competition,” Ghiotto added.
The ABA Client Counseling competition addresses fundamental skills necessary for all successful attorneys, namely the ability to interview, counsel, and support a client through their legal issue. Competitors conduct an initial interview with a person playing the role of the client and then address both the client’s legal and non-legal needs.
This year’s competition focuses on the area of entertainment and amateur sports. The ABA Client Counseling competition addresses fundamental skills necessary for all successful attorneys, namely the ability to interview, advise and support a client through their legal issues. Competitors conduct an initial interview with a person playing the role of the client and then address both the client’s legal and non-legal needs. Students are called on to explain various aspects of the attorney-client relationship, build rapport, determine client goals and consider applicable law and options that may be available to the client.
While conducting the interview with the client, competitors are being observed by three judges that score the competitors at the end of the interview.
“Special praise to the Advocacy Fellow – Callie Davis – who single handedly found all the judges, all the clients, and all the student volunteers, while managing a virtual competition stretching over three time zones and and countless Zoom issues. We are appreciative to have her here at Campbell,” Ghiotto said.
Davis added, “We would like to thank all of our judges and clients that made the weekend’s competition possible. Without your help we could not have hosted the competition!”
The last time Campbell Law served as regional host for the ABA Client Counseling Competition was 2015, when then second-year Campbell Law students Mary Frances Dudley ‘16 and Sloan Smith ‘16 won.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 4,200 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2021, Campbell Law is celebrating 45 years of graduating legal leaders and a dozen years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.