Baylor Law School to Host Regional Client Counseling Tournament, Feb. 13-14

February 12, 2009

Twelve teams from seven different law schools in Texas will gather at Baylor Law School to compete in the regional Client Counseling Competition, sponsored by the American Bar Association's law student division. Taking part in the regional competition, which runs Feb. 13-14, will be teams from Baylor, SMU, the University of Houston, South Texas College of Law, Texas Southern University, Texas Tech and Texas Wesleyan.

Client counseling competitions simulate the initial meetings between attorneys and potential clients. Competitors are judged on their ability to establish a rapport with clients, their method in gathering facts of a case, their discussion of ethical issues and legal fees, and other related questions that arise between attorneys and clients.

All 12 teams will compete in the preliminary rounds of the regional tournament with each team interviewing three different clients with three different problems. The top six teams will advance to the semi-finals with the top three teams going against each other in the finals. The winning team qualifies for the national finals, which will take place in mid-March in North Carolina. The teams will be judged by two practicing attorneys and one non-attorney counselor.

The preliminary rounds will take place Friday, Feb. 13, with the semi-finals and finals scheduled to take place Saturday, Feb. 14.