Client Consultation Competition
For the national competition see below.
For the international competition of 2011 click here.
For last year's international competition click here.
- What client consultation is about
- What the Brown-Mosten competition is about
- How the performance of student teams is assessed
- History of the ABA International Client Consultation Competition (ICCC)
- National selection the Netherlands 2013
- ICCC 2013 Finals Glasgow (April 3-6)
- Topic, Locations and Dates
- Registration information
- Quick contacts
What client consultation is about
Lawyers in practice spend most of their time gathering and interpreting facts and then helping clients making informed decisions. To be effective interviewers, advisers, counselors and lawyers need to recognize and appreciate the client, not just as a legal problem, but as a person with a legal problem.
Therefore, they need to be able to:
• Establish good professional working relationships with clients
• Understand how clients view their problems
• Appreciate the client’s needs and expectations
• Explore the available options and consider the consequences
• Develop strategies to help clients resolve their problems
• Recognize moral and ethical issues and deal with them
What the Brown-Mosten competition is about
A client consultation competition simulates a law office consultation in which law students, acting as attorneys, are presented with a client matter. They conduct an interview with a person playing the role of the client and then explain how they would proceed further in the hypothetical situation. The team is given about 30 minutes to conduct the interview and is expected to
• Elicit the relevant information from the client
• Explore the preferred outcome
• Outline the nature of the problem
• Present the client with a means (or range of alternatives, if appropriate) for resolving the problem
All this should be done in accordance with their own national law. The interview is concluded by a post-consultation “wrap up” in absence of the client. Additional information on the competition can be found on www.brownmosten.com, with numerous links to other sites.
How the performance of student teams is assessed
The students’ performance is assessed by a jury of two practising lawyers and a counselor (e.g. social worker, psychologist). The students are evaluated according to specific criterions that focus on the listening, questioning, planning and analytical skills of the students. In the Dutch national competition, they are graded on a scale of -2 to +2 for each of eleven criterions.
History of the ABA International Client Consultation Competition (ICCC)
The ABA/Louis M Brown Forest S. Mosten International Client Consulation Competition provides an opportunity for law students to learn and practice these interviewing and counseling skills. In 1969 Louis M. Brown established a Client Counseling Competition for law students which was adopted by The American Bar Association in 1972. The International 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, New Zealand, Eire and Northern Ireland, India, Hong Kong, Russia, Nigeria, Namibia, Cambodia, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Ukraine, Finland, Sri Lanka and (sometimes) South Africa. 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. Already during his lifetime, the competition has been organized under the inspiring eagis of Forest S Mosten and his wife Jody. In his honour, the Annual General Meeting decided in 2010 to change the official name of the competition to the Louis M Brown Forest S Mosten International Client Consultation Competition. The official website of the competition is www.brownmosten.com.
National selection The Netherlands 2013
The national selection for The Netherlands is organized by the Faculty of Law of the Maastricht University. Registration is open for student teams of all law faculties of The Netherlands (maybe a maximum number of teams will be set, but this has not been decided yet). The national selection includes a special client interviewing training for the winning teams of the preliminary rounds. If the winning team is a Maastricht University team, the Faculty Board will cover the costs of participating in the finals in Glasgow (Scotland). For other teams, the National Representative will try to help to find sponsors, if necessary.
ICCC 2013 Finals Glasgow (April 3-6)
The ICCC Finals for the year 2012-2013 are being hosted by the University of Scotland, Glasgow (Scotland). For more information on this event surf to this website.
The link on top of this page will give you information about the finals that took place in Maastricht in April, 2011.
Topic, Locations and Dates
2012-2013 Competition Topic:
Serious Crimes against the Person
2012-2013 Calendar of Events:
December 3, 2012
Registration by e-mail opens (see below)
December 10, 2012, 6:00-8:00 pm (Monday)
Introductory meeting for all interested students
Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, Bouillonstraat 3, Maastricht
Room 0.118
December 12, 2012 (Wednesday)
Registration deadline
January 14, 2012 6:00-8:00 pm (Monday)
Teaching lecture on client interviewing for participating teams
Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, Bouillonstraat 3, Maastricht
Room to be announced
January 19, 2013 (Saturday)
Preliminary rounds
Maastricht, Faculty of Law
February 2013 (date to be announced)
National finals
Maastricht, Faculty of Law
April 3-6, 2013
ICCC 2013 International Finals, Glasgow, Scotland
Registration information
Participation is open for all law students studying in The Netherlands (university or college), regardless of their nationality.
Entry fee: The entry fee for students of Maastricht University will be paid by the university. The entry fee for teams from other universities is € 25,- per student team. If funding by the university proves to be impossible, an application to waive the fee can be sent to the email addresses below.
Registration only by email to be sent to secretariaatapum@apum.unimaas.nl, specifying first and last names, address, e-mail address, phone number and faculty (university, college or law programme (law school)).
By registering, each registering team expressly declares a) to be available in the period between the preliminary rounds and the finals to attend interviewing training sessions, b) to accept directions from the coach regarding the preparation for the finals, and c) to be available to attend the international finals from the beginning to the end (applies to Maastricht teams only).
If the number of teams exceeds the organizational capacity of the Faculty of Law, a maximum of 5 teams per law programme (law school) will be set. Each law programme will have to determine for itself which teams will be sent as representing that law programme.
NB: Only teams can register; registration is not open to individual students.
Quick contacts
Competition co-ordinator
Fokke Fernhout (043-3882774)
fokke.fernhout@strafr.unimaas.nl
Assistant competition coordinator
Patrick Leerssen, assistant competition coordinator
p.leerssen@student.maastrichtuniversity.nl
