ABSU LAW CLINIC REPRESENTS NIGERIA IN THE LOUIS BROWN AND FOREST MOISTEN INTERNATIONAL CLIENT CONSULTATION COMPETITION IN IRELAND.

History again was made as two 500 Level Law Students of Abia State University in the persons of Azubuike Seth and Ikechukwu Uzoma represented the School, the State and the country in an international competition held in Dublin, Ireland, on the 18th to 21st day of April, 2012.

The students qualified for the International stage of the competition after being crowned champions in the national stage of the Client Interviewing and Counselling Competition, which held on the 9th to the 11th November, 2012, at Augustine Nnamani Law School in Agbani, Enugu state. Thus, success at the national level which was a product of God's grace and the combined efforts both of the staff and the students, bought the school the ticket to represent the country at the international level of the competition.

The Louis Brown and Forest Moistein International Client Consultation Competition is an annual competition, though not so pronounced in Nigeria, it is a world class international competition that attracts International Committees of the world and has been in existence since 1985. Its main purpose is to provide a platform where the best of law students around the world gather to showcase their knowledge and skill in interviewing and counselling.

The students are expected to simulate a law office setting that depicts the typical first-time meeting between a lawyer and a prospective client.  The high level of organisation of the competition is showcased in the criteria for judgement which include how students are expected to elicit the relevant information from the client, exploit with the client his or her preferred outcome, outline the nature of the problem, and present the client with a means or ranges of alternatives for resolving the problem.

The ABSU contingent in the persons of Azubuike Seth, Uzoma Ikechukwu, Ndukwe Victor Osiri, Hart Sam and Barr. Emeka Okorafor (lecturer), left Nigeria on the 17th day of April, 2012, and arrived Dublin, Ireland on the 18th of April, 2012, through a connecting flight from Lagos to Frankfurt (Germany), then to Dublin (Ireland).

The competition began with a Master Class which the team did not participate in due to their late arrival. The Opening Ceremony/Welcome Event took  place immediately after the Master Class. Several speeches were made by the organisers and resource persons to welcome the delegates, in which they stressed the importance of the competition to legal education and practice. Mr. Forest  S. Morsten particularly stressed the fact that couselling skills are essential to success in legal practice and that he was fulfilled that his efforts towards inculcating such skills in young lawyers were yielding great fruits.

The representatives of the various countries were soon recognized and put into groups for participation. It is worthy of note that 24 countries participated in this year's competition and they included United States of America, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, England and Wales, Cambodia, India, China, Indonesia, Canada, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Russia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Iran, Australia, Finland, Malaysia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Nigeria (which was the only african country present in the competition).

The competition featured 2 (two) preliminary stages and a semi-final stage before the finals. The preliminary stage had two rounds which were followed by the Semi-final (third stage)and the finals (last stage). Each group had four (4) countries to compete against each other in the first and second rounds of the preliminaries, after which 9 (nine) countries where shortlisted for the semi-final stage. Team Nigeria for the first time after 6 years of participating in the competition, qualified for the semi-finals, with countries like Indonesia, Canada, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Russia, The Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Iran, Australia, Finland, Malaysia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United States of America and Jamaica eliminated after the first and second stages.

The semi-finals were set as all the teams that qualified for the round exhibited a high level of knowledge and  skill. Team Nigeria was not left behind in this exhibition as it covered all that was expected of it by the judges during the session with the client. But as fate would have it and due to time restraints, we could not make it to the final stage as China, for the first time, qualified for the final stage from our group.

 Alhough we were not able to get to the final stage and win the plaque, the knowledge, the skill and the exposure that ICCC 2012 endowed on us is simply astonishing and requisite for the future. For us (Team Nigeria) Client Consultation Competition is not just a forum where prizes, gifts and sourvenirs can be shared but also a domain where young and future lawyers are trained in the art of interviewing and counselling which is an integral part of the law profession. 

The experience was refreshing as it exposed us to diverse cultures and traditions. The network of friendship created and warm hospitality created by ICCC in Ireland contributed to ensure that ICCC 2012 was a huge success for us all. While praying that the best comes out of our successors, we are hopeful that some day Team Nigeria would be crowned champions of the world at ICCC so that ICCC would be given its due recognition in Nigeria.