RALEIGH — Campbell Law School will serve as a regional host for the 2022 American Bar Association (ABA) Client Counseling Competition. The competition, which will feature 12 teams, will be held virtually via Zoom Feb. 18-19.
Campbell Law has the honor of being selected for the second year in a row to host law schools from the region, including law schools from Texas, Colorado, Michigan and California.
“This competition is unique, wherein students compete to determine who possesses the best skillset necessary to interview, counsel, and support a client in an initial meeting,” said Tatiana Terry, professor of Trial Advocacy and director of Competitive Advocacy.
This year’s competition focuses on the area of civil rights. 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. These practical skills competitions offer students an opportunity to hone the skills that students will use as a practitioner through intraschool, regional, and national competitions.
The regional competition consists of three qualifying rounds. In each round, the teams are presented with a different client matter. The top six teams advance to the semifinal round after the qualifying round, with the three winning teams competing in the final round.
As the host school, Campbell Law is in need of volunteer judges for the competition for the preliminary, semifinal and final rounds. If you are interested in being a judge, please click here to register. As a host school, Campbell Law is responsible for getting all the judges and clients for the competition — a minimum of 48 judges and 16 clients. Since Campbell Law has two student teams competing in the region the law school is hosting, Campbell Law professors are not allowed to judge the competition. The ABA also suggests that one of the three judges in each virtual “room” be a non-lawyer, meaning at least 16 non-lawyers are also needed to volunteer to judge.
Judges are only allowed to judge one round (preliminary, semifinal final), but those who are available for more than one round should indicate their availability when signing up.
If you would like to serve as a judge, please register at this link or email Lauren Johnson by Feb. 1, 2022. Questions? Contact her at lnjohnson0823@email.campbell.edu.
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 4,500 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2021, Campbell Law celebrated 45 years of graduating legal leaders and 12 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.