to benefit New Zealand
New Zealand Victorious Again
14th April 2010
Julia Whitehead and Guy Carter won the Louis M Brown International Client Counseling Competition on 10 April in Hong Kong. New Zealand has won this prestigious international competition four times in the last ten years. "New Zealand is clearly the team to beat" remarked a foreign coach after attending the competition.
New Zealand's participation at the international competition is funded by a generous grant from the New Zealand Law Foundation. The Law Foundation has been supporting attendance of New Zealand law students at various international competitions for over 10 years and provides up to $72,000 a year for this purpose. Foundation Director, Lynda Hagen said "The Law Foundation supports New Zealand representative teams at these international competitions as it enhances the development of advocacy skills in this country. This result is evidence of that and we congratulate Julia and Guy on their wonderful achievement."
The competition requires each team of two law students to interview an actor pretending to be a client with a difficult legal problem. The law students must demonstrate good interviewing and communication skills and give the client appropriate legal advice. The topic for this year's competition was white collar crime, and the final round scenario dealt with a substance abusing lawyer who was being blackmailed and also misusing her clients' money.
Whitehead and Carter were coached by Selene Mize, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Otago and the recipient of the 2009 Prime Minister's Supreme Award for Tertiary Teaching. "Guy and Julia have incredible talent. They are well-organised in questioning and advising the client and extremely quick at picking up on all ramifications of the client's situation. They were the only team in the final round to appreciate fully the difficult ethical implications of the client's situation." Mize said that many observers at the final round reported that Whitehead and Carter gave the best performance they had ever seen at the competition.
"Client counselling competitions provide an excellent opportunity to practice important skills" says Mize. "The initial client interview forms the basis for the lawyer-client relationship. The establishment of rapport supports trust and candor, and clear discussion of the legal situation and options allows the client to make an informed choice."
Whitehead and Carter are both currently students at the University of Canterbury. Carter is studying law and political science, and is also president of LAWSOC, the Canterbury law students' association. Whitehead is finishing her LLB(Hons)/BA double degree this year.
This year's competition was the largest ever, with 22 countries from North America, Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia competing. The team representing England and Wales placed second, and the American team came third.