Epstein '10, Harvey '10 Place 4th in National Client Counseling Competition
Eve Epstein '10 and Jeremiah Harvey '10 competed in the National ABA Client Counseling Competition in Waco, Texas on March 19-20. After placing first in the regional competition, Epstein and Harvey competed against other regional teams for the national title. They tied for first place in the preliminary rounds advancing for the first time in UC Davis history to the semi-final round of the national tournament. The team ultimately placed fourth in the nation.
"I learned a great deal from this competition about lawyering. We practiced with countless actors, however, at the end of the day you can never fully predict who is going to walk through your door and how you are going to counsel them," said Epstein.
"Every day was a new problem and a new type of client which changed the way I think about the law. Sometimes a client had legal problem and we could move forward as a legal advocate; sometimes the client needed some direction, consoling or non-legal advice. But no matter what the problem, the client needed and wanted someone in their corner to help them with something that was overwhelming," said Harvey.
The Client Counseling Competition tests the competitors' ability to elicit the relevant information, outline the problem, identify all of the issues and propose a solution that addresses both the client's legal and non-legal concerns.
"The most important thing to learn about client counseling is to view the potential client as a whole person with a family, friends, and a number of other concerns to address before you can truly counsel them on their next legal steps," said Epstein. "This competition teaches would-be lawyers that being a lawyer is more than being just an advocate. To properly serve their clients, lawyers need to be a friend, a counselor, and someone who will be there for whatever their client may need help with," said Harvey.
Epstein and Harvey expressed thanks to their coach, Professor Donna Shestowsky, who dedicated her time and provided tremendous support. They also thanked Professors Clayton Tanaka and Lawrence Green, as well as King Hall students Rachel Ray '11, Rebekah Barlow '10, Hyunok Kim LLM, Erin Mariano '11, Alexandria Goff '12, Allison Kephart '10, Craig Baumgartner '10, Cheryl Wei ‘11, and Jesse Yang '10, and McGeorge School of Law students Andrea Logue '10 and Kate Mitchell '11, who served as practice clients.