ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition

King Hall hosted the ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition over the weekend.  Teams from throughout the Western region came to King Hall to participate.  On a foggy Saturday morning, I welcomed the judges as well as the student competitors.  Professor Donna Shestowsky, who coached the UC Davis teams, shared the following message today.

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to make the announcement below on behalf of the King Hall Negotiations Team. I am very proud of our teams, and the Board members who ran the competition truly did a remarkable job.  Many judges have emailed me since the event to tell me how professional and organized the student organizers were, and how happy they were to see King Hall sponsor a competition of this nature, and competitors and coaches repeatedly told me throughout the weekend how welcomed they felt at UC Davis:

On Friday February 17 th through Sunday, February 19 th, 2012, twelve teams from across the Ninth Circuit travelled to UC Davis to compete in the American Bar Association’s Client Counseling Regional Competition.  This year the topic for the competition was education law. Teams of two law students each completed mock in-take interviews and legal counseling sessions of client actors representing teachers, parents, and students involved in various conflicts related to K-12 education.  After five rounds of competition, Debra Amens and Cheryl Grames from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas took first place and, with it, an invitation to the ABA’s national competition to be held next month in Durham, North Carolina.  Rounding out the finalists were UC Hastings in second place and McGeorge School of Law in third.

King Hall students Allison Sloan (’12) and Saba Shatara (’13) represented King Hall in the competition, as did Alexandria Goff (’12) and Leah White (’13).  These teams were coached by faculty advisor, Professor Donna Shestowsky.  The team of Goff-White advanced to the semifinal round where they were eliminated by the Hastings team.

The King Hall Negotiations Team was honored to host and administer this year’s regional competition under the direction of Board President Jesse Suarez and Competitions Chair Ryan Norman.  The Team would like to thank the Deans for their support, Gia Hellwig and the marketing department for their assistance, and the many judges and actor-clients and student volunteers who made the competition such a success.