Client Counseling Competition

Client Counseling Competition 2025-2026

The Client Counseling Competition focuses on the skills essential to effective client communication. Sponsored by the Law Student Division of the American Bar Association, this competition involves teams of two students each who engage in an initial consultation with a client about whom they have very limited information. Judges score each team according to nationally-based criteria, assessing students’ knowledge of the law and their ability to ask the right questions and elicit the important information. Winners proceed to competitions at the regional and national level.

2025–2026 Board: Lizzie Bohnstedt, Sarah Eastland, and Peter Cain

Email: lawcomp@bu.edu

NOTE: The dates and information below are for the 2024-2025 Competition Season. Check back in Summer 2025 for updated 2025-2026 information and dates (which will be similar to the dates below).

Important Information & Dates 

Intramural Competition Information

Teams of two students each will compete in a simulated client counseling session based on a hypothetical fact pattern. Teams will receive very little information ahead of time. The Regional and National competitions follow the same format.

Two teams will be selected to represent BU at the ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition. The top two teams from the Regional Competition will advance to the National Competition.

Programming and Competition Dates

Information Session + Practice Workshop
Wednesday, October 16 at 1:00 pm
Room 209

Internal Competition
Preliminary Rounds: October 21 & 23, 5-8pm (teams will be scheduled based on availability)
Final Round: October 25, time TBA

Eligibility and Application

Application Link: Due October 18 at noon.
If you experience trouble with the form, please email lawcomp@bu.edu. We will notify teams of their acceptance and which evening they are scheduled for as soon as possible. If you are signing up with a partner, please only fill out ONE application for each team of two. If you are signing up individually, submit an application for just yourself. The teams selected to compete will be notified as soon as possible.

BU Law’s Client Counseling Competition typically takes places at the very beginning of the spring semester. The time commitment to compete is minimal (approximately one hour for your preliminary round and another hour for the final round). If your team is one of the two teams selected to represent BU at Regionals, you will need to practice up to two hours per week during the weeks leading up to Regionals in February.

Reminder: To be eligible to compete, you must be available for the Internal Competition Preliminary and Final Rounds (above), the Regional Competition dates (below), and the National Competition date (see below).

ABA Regional and National Competitions

Regional Competition: One of three dates – February 7-9, February 14-16, February 21-23
National Competition: March 2025 (exact date TBA)