The Client Counseling competition promotes greater knowledge and interest among law students in the preventative law and counseling functions of law practice and encourages students to develop interviewing, planning and analytical skills. Each round of competition simulates a law office consultation in which two law students, acting as attorneys, are presented with a client matter. They conduct an interview with an actor playing the role of the client and then address both the client’s legal and non-legal needs. Students are then 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.
JD students interested in joining the College’s Client Counseling Team must either win the annual fall ABA intraschool competition or be invited from among one of the finalist teams (if space is available). The College’s ABA team travels and represents Illinois at regional and national events, and the United States at international events. Want to see how far you can go as part of our ABA Client Counseling team? Watch this short video!
The College also hosts an LLM Client Counseling Competition at the same time as the ABA Client Counseling Competition. The winning team from the LLM event will be named the College of Law LLM Client Counseling Competition Champion for that year.