Client Consultation Competition 2024 (on campus)

• What the Brown-Mosten competition is about
• What client consultation is about
• How the performance of student teams is assessed
• History of the ABA International Client Consultation Competition (ICCC)
• National selection The Netherlands 2024 (on campus)
• ICCC 2024 Finals John Paul II Catholic University, Lublin, Poland (April 10-13, 2024)
• Topic, Locations and Dates
• Registration information
• Quick contacts

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 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, 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 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 2024
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 John Paul II Catholic University, Lublin, Poland. 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 that registered.

ICCC 2024 Finals John Paul II Catholic University, Lublin, Poland (April 10-13, 2024)
The ICCC Finals for the year 2023-2024 are hosted by the Faculty of Law of John Paul II University, Lublin, Poland, in collaboration with the national representative of Ukraine and her assistants. The finals will take place in Lublin. More information will be available on www.brownmosten.com in the course of 2023.

This year's finals will be on campus.

Topic, locations and dates national selection the Netherlands

2024 Competition Topic (national selection and international finals)
International Humanitarian Law

2024 Calendar of Events
November, 2023
Registration by e-mail opens (see below for details)

December 13, 2023, 4 pm
Introductory lecture about the competition, Faculty building, 0.118 (mandatory for the Maastricht teams)

January 15, 2024
Registration deadline (closes at 12 pm)

February 24, 2024
National selection at the Faculty building at the Kapoenstraat; schedule to be announced after January 15

February 24 -April 10, 2024
Training of the winning team by coach Agustin Parise, dates to be determined

April 10-13, 2024
ICCC 2024 International Finals (on campus), Lublin, Poland

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 24, 2024).

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).

By registering, each team of Maastricht University expressly declares a) to be available in the period between February 24, 2024, 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

Student assistant
Jeroen Klinkenberg (0648198006)
jhs.klinkenberg@student.maastrichtuniversity.nl