I judged my very first law school competition today. It was the American Bar Association Law Student Division's regional Client Counseling Competition. It was hosted by the Moot Court Board at Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor. I was one of the three judges in the final round.
The competition involved teams of two law students each, who would basically do a mock initial consultation with a prospective "client." Only the judges and the client knew the scenario and the issues the client wished to discuss -- the students' job was to glean this information from the client and devise a course of action. My job was to serve on the panel of judges that evaluated the three finalist teams. The other two panelists were a longtime trial attorney who is now a prosectuor, and a clinical psychologist. I found that to be an interesting facet of the rules of the competition -- one of the judges is required to be a clinical psychologist, in order to give the perspective of someone who is not a lawyer, but who is trained in issues of gaining the trust of others, and other such interpersonal relationship issues.
Anyhow, not having judged any of the various law school competitions (mock trial, moot court, etc.) I wasn't sure what to expect. All three teams did a great job, however, and I found the final choice to be quite difficult. We weren't told which teams were from which schools until after we picked the winners. After all was said and done, it just so happened that my two law school alma maters, Thomas M. Cooley Law School and the University of Michigan Law School, ended up being the first- and second-place finishers.
All in all, it was a great experience for me (and, I hope, the participants), and I don't think it will be the last time I volunteer to judge such a competition.
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