The Client Interviewing Competition is a national competition for Law students that takes place every year. It aims to encourage the promotion and development of the skills involved with client interviewing within an educational context. The students work in pairs interviewing clients and are judged by a panel of judges, using standard assessment criteria. The students compete in a regional heat and the best 12 teams are put through to the finals.

This year, 32 teams took place, and we are delighted that Bangor came second in the competition. The best Welsh team and the best English team are then entered into the International competition which will take place in Poland in April. This year the overall winner was Swansea University, so this year, Swansea and Sussex (who came third) will be entered into the International competition.

Reflecting on the competition, Kay said:  “Having participated in the 2024 Client Interviewing Competition I would recommend it to anyone considering a career as a solicitor or at the bar. The competition allows you to develop your client relation skills, as well as allowing you to implement your legal knowledge in a practical way. It is a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and I would recommend it. “

Millie added: “This competition completely transformed my interpersonal skills. I have gained a huge amount of confidence in my legal advice capabilities; through all the practice sessions we completed in the build-up to the competition and found the individual judge feedback incredibly useful in improving on this further. Not to mention, the event itself in London and Birmingham were great networking opportunities.”

Tracey Horton was responsible for coaching the students from Bangor. Tracey has recently been recruited by the University to set up a legal advice clinic at the University where final year students will provide free legal advice to members of the public, supervised by qualified solicitors. Tracey said that the competition teaches the students skills which will be invaluable in clinic and will be required if students intend to qualify as solicitors, as this skill is also assessed in the SQE and LPC. There was some fierce competition this year so the fact that the students came second is a fabulous achievement.