EWMI NEWS:
FEBRUARY 2008
CAMBODIA’S FIRST LAW STUDENT CLIENT COUNCELING COMPETITION

Improving the justice sector in Cambodia is an integral part of EWMI’s USAID-funded Program on Rights and Justice (PRAJ). In an effort to provide the Cambodian justice system with more effective advocates, PRAJ, along with its partner, the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, successfully completed the first annual Cambodian Client Counseling Competition (CCCC). The competition was held February 28 - 29, 2008, and is an example of the creative and exciting new methods used to teach law students important practical skills that currently are not being effectively taught in Cambodian law schools. The event, which included over 100 law students, professors and members of the legal community, allowed teams from five Cambodian law schools to compete for the honors of national champion. The teams of law students were placed in a simulated law office environment where they were challenged to conduct a counseling session with a “client” played by an actor. Through the process, the students learned how to employ important practical legal skills such as active listening, interrogation, empathy, issue spotting, legal analysis, problem solving and teamwork. The students worked with local lawyers to prepare for the competition. PRAJ also helped prepare the students by conducting a client counseling workshop earlier in the month.

The national champion, a team from the Royal University of Law and Economics, received its award in a ceremony presided over by the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, Joseph Mussomeli, and President of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Ky Tech. The team won a trip to India to represent Cambodia in the International Client Counseling Competition which included 18 countries. In the first round of that competition, the Cambodian team finished an impressive second between teams from Scotland and Hong Kong. In the second round, the Cambodians finished third in a grouping with two of the strongest teams, the United States and the eventual champion, Northern Ireland. Ambassador Mussomeli congratulated the Cambodian team upon their return to Phnom Penh.