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Akron Law takes 3rd in national client counseling competition
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: April 27, 2016
First they were regional champs, now two students from The University of Akron School of Law have made an impressive showing in the national finals of the American Bar Association Law Student Division Client Counseling Competition.
Akron Law part-time 2Ls Nicolette Drotos and David Wolfram finished third in the contest, which took place April 1 and 2 at Baylor University Law School in Waco, Texas.
Twelve regional champions from around the country participated, including teams from New York, Texas, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada and Ohio.
“I am very proud of how far we made it,” said Drotos.
“We placed third in the nation as part-time second-year law students after going head-to-head against a lot full-time 3Ls,” said Wolfram. “I would say we did very well and I am pleased with the outcome.”
The client counseling competition gives students a chance to hone their interviewing, analytical and problem-solving skills in the context of an initial interview with a person portraying a client. Students work to come up with real-world solutions to the client’s dilemma.
Each scene plays out before a panel of three judges (two attorneys and one non-legal professional), who evaluate students on professionalism, teamwork, communication and the interpersonal skills required to represent clients as well as issue spotting, fact-finding and other factors.
This year’s competition topic is criminal law and criminal procedure.
“It’s a phenomenal training experience for students who get the chance to practice their client counseling skills,” said Matthew J. Wilson, dean at The University of Akron School of Law. “Many law schools do not focus on this type of training enough, but we are always seeking to integrate more real-world skills development opportunities into our programming.”
The Akron team’s third place showing in the national finals comes around six weeks after Drotos and Wolfram won the regional American Bar Association Law Student Division Client Counseling Competition at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.
Akron Law first-year full-time students Brian Kellogg and Vincent James Michalec took third place in that competition, which was held on Feb. 12 and 13.
Drotos/Wolfram and Kellogg/Michalec advanced to the regionals based on their performances at Akron Law’s intraschool client counseling competition on Jan. 16.
Wilson serves as the coach for the client counseling competition and is the force behind the school’s decision to participate in the contest.
“This is our second year and I believe it is very important for us to continue to be involved. Even if students don’t make it past the intraschool level, they still receive valuable feedback from local attorneys about how to improve their skills.
“If students do make it to the finals, they have the chance to receive input from legal professionals around the country,” said Wilson. “One of the judges in Waco made the statement that he would extend an offer of employment to any of the six finalists.”
Prior to heading off to the national finals, Wilson said he held practice sessions with Drotos and Wolfram three times a week.
“We had around 18 one-on-one training sessions in which we talked about how to improve their approach to spotting legal issues and problems, identifying solutions and developing relationships with clients,” he said.
“Some of our sessions were done via Skype or FaceTime because the dean was in Asia traveling for the school,” said Wolfram. “He put in a full day and then worked with us.”
“It was amazing to see the progress of both students as they prepared for the competition,” said Wilson. “At this point, I would feel very comfortable with Drotos and Wolfram handling a client in the real world.”
During the first day of the national finals, Drotos and Wolfram received an award for their win in the regionals and competed in three preliminary rounds, each one featuring a different client scenario.
“About a week or so before the national finals, we received a one-line sentence about each fictional client’s problem,” said Drotos. “There was little to go on and in most cases, there was some underlying factor that we had to get the client to tell us about.
“In one scenario about 10 to 15 minutes into our interview with the client, we discovered the person lied so we had to begin again,” said Drotos, who earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at The University of Akron and hopes to become a judge in the Akron area.
All the teams were given the same scenarios to tackle during the preliminary, semi-final and final rounds. In each round, a three-judge panel provided feedback at the end.
At the end of the preliminary rounds on April 1, the field was narrowed to six teams. Three of those teams, including Drotos/Wolfram, were tied for second place. The semi-finals occurred on April 2, with teams going head-to-head. The final round included just three teams—The University of Akron School of Law, Albany Law School and the University of Illinois College of Law.
“The final scenario involved a female pastor who had found child pornography on a computer at the church,” said Drotos. “Before the pastor came to us, she had asked her employee to undergo treatment and had destroyed the evidence. When the employee returned, the pastor discovered another problem. This time she fired him and destroyed the computer and the hard drive.
“A few weeks later the police contacted her because they had found evidence on the man’s home computer. The problem was more challenging than some of the ones David and I tackled during the regionals.”
Wolfram said the pastor case included a “curve ball. All we were told is that a pastor was coming in to talk about First Amendment rights and the scenario was really much different.”
This is the second year Wolfram and Drotos teamed up for the client counseling competition. The first year they did not make it to the regionals.
“It was very interesting and a lot of fun both years,” said Wolfram, who has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Hiram College.
He said he would be interested in entering the client counseling competition again next year.
“We will have to see if we have time next year,” said Wolfram. “I am interested in participating in the moot court competition and Nicolette is involved in mock trial. We will have to see if our schedules will work. If not, we had a great run this year and I’ll take that and run with it.”