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Client Consultation Competition 2026



• For the national competition see below
• For more information about the ICCC click here
• This year's international competition will be hosted by the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb (Crotia). The finals will take place from Wednesday, April 15, 2026 until Saturday, April 18, 2026.

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 45 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
• Reflect on the interview after the client has left the office

All this should be done in accordance with their own national law (that is, the law of the jurisdiction where their university or law school is situated). 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.

What client consultation is about
Lawyers in practice spend most of their time gathering and interpreting facts and then helping clients to make 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 a good and professional working relationship 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

How the performance of student teams is assessed
The students’ performance is assessed by a jury of two practising lawyers (ideally a district court judge and an attorney at law) 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 1 to 5 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, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, The Netherlands, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Poland, Croatia, and some other occasionally participating countries (like Belgium, Georgia, and Uzbekistan). 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. There is a special prize (the Nancy Schultz Award) for the team who demonstrates certain of the most important qualities of effective client counseling during the preliminary rounds.

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 aegis 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 2026
The national selection for The Netherlands is hosted by the Faculty of Law of  Maastricht University. Registration is open for student teams of all law faculties of the Netherlands. The winning team has the right to participate in the international finals and all the related events, which will be hosted by the University of Zagreb, Croatia. If the winning team is from Maastricht University, the Faculty of Law will cover the costs of participating in the international finals (travel expenses, accommodation, participation fee). 

After registration, the rules applying to the national selection and additional information will be made available to the teams who registered.

ICCC 2026 Finals University of Zagreb, Croatia (April 15-18, 2026)
The ICCC Finals for the year 2025-2026 are hosted by the University of Zagreb, Croatia. The finals will take place in Zagreb. More information will be available on www.brownmosten.com in the course of 2026.

Topic, locations and dates national selection the Netherlands

2025 Competition Topic (national selection and international finals)
Use of Land

2025-2026 Calendar of Events
September, 2025
Registration by e-mail opens (see below for details)

Thursday December 11, 2024, 6 pm
Introductory lecture about the competition, Faculty building, Statenzaal (C1.302)  (counts as requirement to obtain the extracurricular 6 ects) )

December 15, 2025
Registration deadline (closes at 12 pm)

Saturday February 7, 2026
National selection at the Faculty building at the Kapoenstraat; schedule to be announced after the registration deadline

February 7 -April 15, 2026
Training of the winning team (if that team is from Maastricht University) by coach Agustin Parise, dates to be determined

April 15-18, 2026
ICCC 2026 International Finals, Zagreb, Croatia

Extracurricular credits (6 ects)
If the number of participating teams from Maastricht University is high, a special training of 6 meetings will be organized in the periode from January 15, 2026, to the national selection on Saturday, February 7, 2026. Teams who attended 5 out of 7 meetings (for which the introductory lecture count as a meeting) will get 6 extracurricular ects.

Registration information
Participation is open for all law students studying in The Netherlands (university or college), regardless of their nationality. Each team member has to be registered as a law student at the date of the national finals (February 7, 2026).

There is no entry fee.

Registration by email only; the email has to be sent to fokke.fernhout@maastrichtuniversity.nl, specifying for each team member first and last names, address, e-mail address, phone number and faculty (university, college or law program (law school), year of study).

There is a maximum of 30 teams. The rule "first come, first served" applies.

By registering, each team of Maastricht University expressly declares a) to be available in the period between February 8, 2025, and the international finals to attend interviewing training sessions, b) to accept directions from the coach regarding the preparation for the international finals, and c) to be available to attend the international finals from the beginning to the end.

If the number of teams exceeds the organizational capacity of the Faculty of Law, a maximum of 2 teams per law program (law school) will be set (7 for Maastricht as host). Each law program 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. Individual students without a team mate can ask to be put on a list and will be brought into contact with other students on that list.

Quick contacts
Competition co-ordinator
Fokke Fernhout (0614101042)
fokke.fernhout@maastrichtuniversity.nl