Live: 16th National Client Consulting Competition by Kerala Law Academy

INAUGURATION

National Client Consulting Competition for Justice P. Govinda Menon Memorial Ever Rolling Trophy organized by the Kerala Law Academy Law College, Trivandrum begins with a grand inauguration ceremony. Justice Pius C. Kuriakose, Kerala Lok Ayuktha and former Chief Justice of High Court of Sikkim inaugurate the 16th edition of Competition by lighting the lamps. Dr. A. Sampath, Member of Parliament, presided over the function. Shri. K. Sasidharan Nair, Kerala State Election Commission is also present in the function for the key note address. Dr. Lekshmi P. Nair, Principal of Kerala Law Academy Law College makes welcome speech and vote of thanks is delivered by Shri. Anil Kumar G., the General Secretary of Moot Court Society. The competition has a participation of teams from various Law Schools and Colleges across the country including a number of National Law Universities.

Retaining a client is more difficult than getting a client : Justice Pius C. Kuriakose

“There is a saying that retaining a client is more difficult than getting a client. You will be able to retain a client by winning his confidence for which effective and  inspiring consultation is necessary.” Justice Pius C. Kuriakose has opined in his inauguration speech of 16th National Client Consulting Competition.. “It is often said that a beginner lawyer’s  time is always lost waiting for the client who never came. But according to me the above saying is not correct as far as most of the Indian states including state of Kerala with multitude of humanity and that too with multitude of problems . The hardworking of a lawyer will certainly give him clients.”

“Though there are several learned professions in the world including the medical profession, the legal profession is often referred to as a noble profession. It is because of several reasons and particularly the reason of integrity which the lawyers are expected to have in the matter of their dealings with the Courts and also with the clients. According to me, from the point of view of a lawyer, a client is more important than the Court as without a client to consult him or to give him a brief, a lawyer cannot have any existence. A client approaches a lawyer with a problem that  affects his life or property re coursing all his trust on the lawyer believing the lawyer will give him the right advice”, Justice Kuriakose opined.  To become successful in the profession what is most important for a budding lawyer is to win the confidence of the client. In order to arose confidence in the mind of the client, the lawyer will have to convince him that he is learned enough, and that he is giving the correct advice and also will assist the court properly for getting right decisions so that the client’s grievance will be redressed and the client’s right will be established .

Justice Kuriakose remembered that advocacy is the combination of various talents necessary for achieving the ultimate end for persuading the judges to accept the case advanced by the lawyer and the client. Equally important is the initial exercise which the lawyer has in his chambers or his office rooms, which is nothing other than the lawyers’ consultation with his client or the client’s consultation with his lawyer. The client who consult the the lawyer will mostly be an ordinary man. He may not have any communication skill . The lawyer has to deal with him very patiently and in a dignified manner giving him an impression that you are a dependable person. You have to give him a very patient listening. In other words, you are expected to be more a listener in your consultation room to the client than somebody who demonstrates his argumentative skills before the client. After all,  the lawyer has to be thorough with the facts of the case which has been supplied to him by the client. The lawyer’s patient listening, his kindness, sympathy and care will slowly arose  confidence in the client’s mind. The client should be allowed to narrate his grievance without any intervention and the lawyer should not feel worried even if some part of the narration is totally irrelevant. The lawyer will have to take all possible instructions of the client only through an effective and meaningful consultation,  then the lawyer will be able to pick out the points for and against the client. The Client Consulting competitions will help a student to achieve these abilities of a good lawyer. Justice Kuriakose congratulated the Kerala Law Academy for choosing the client consultation for a national level competition.

Preliminary rounds

Preliminary Rounds have begun. 17 teams from various Law Schools and Colleges are participating in the preliminary round. 2 members from each team act as counsels. Consultation and proper advices to the client approaching have begun in front of panel. ?Trained students of KLA are acting as clients. After consultation with the client, the student advocates have to discuss the case with each other and analyze the same. Thereafter there will be interaction with the judges. 40 minutes constitute a session of which 25 min is devoted for client consultation, 10 min for mutual discussion and 5 min for interaction with judges. Leading lawyers, faculty members, and alumnies of KLA are included in the judging panel.

12.38 PM:1st Preliminary round’s results announced
The following 7 teams hold the first six ranks.
1. GNLU
2. KLE Society¡¯s Law College &
Kerala Law Academy
3. NLU, Odisha
4. V.M Salgocar College of Law
5. NLSIU
6. School of Law, Sastra University.
2nd Preliminary Rounds are on. The aggregate marks of the teams will be considered for qualification to Semi Finals.
GNLU holds the top position in the rank list with a total of 86 marks. The teams holding second position have 80 marks each.

Second Preliminary Round

02.20 PM: The second preliminary round has begun after the lunch break was over. Just like the first round, second round is also featured by judges with great experience. Teams holding top positions in the first preliminary round are now trying to retain their positions so as to enter into the Semi Finals. Only Six teams with top aggregate marks in the preliminary rounds will be qualified for the Semi Finals.

05.00 PM: Preliminary rounds are over. Results will be published soon after the tea break. All the seventeen teams are now waiting for the results to know the top six teams who will be qualified for the Semi Finals to be held tomorrow.

05.45 PM:Preliminary Round’s Result announced

Results of the preliminary rounds announced. 6 teams are qualified for the Semi Finals.
1. GNLU
2. V.M Salgocar College of Law
3. KLE Society¡¯s Law College
4. NLSIU
5. School of Law, Sastra University
6. NALSAR
Semi Finals will be held tomorrow morning.

Semi Finals

09.30AM:Semi Finals started. The six teams who qualified for the semi finals are now divided to two categories. Only two chambers are there in the semi finals and same judges will judge the performance of 3 teams in the same category. Top team from each category will be qualified for the Final. Leading advocates from High Court of Kerala and District and Sessions Court are there in the judging panel.

12.30PM:Semi Finals of the competition came to an end. All the six teams performed well in Semis. All of them are now waiting for the results of Semi Finals. Results will be announced soon.

01.15PM: Semi-final Results announced.
GNLU and VM Salgocar College of Law qualified for the Finals.
Marks obtained by the teams are as follows:
1. GNLU (135)
2. VM Salgocar College of Law (125)
3. KLE Society’s Law College (111)
4. NALSAR (105)
5. NLSIU (85)
6. School of Law, Sastra University (84)

Final will start at 2 PM.

Finals

3.15 PM: Finals started finally. Teams from GNLU and VM Salgocar College of Law are competing for Justice P. Govinda Menon ever rolling trophy. Final round is judged by Adv. VJ Mathew, Adv. V.G. Arun and Adv. Sreelal Warrier, leading lawyers of High Court of Kerala. All the best to both teams.

5.00 PM : Final round is over. Everyone is now waiting for the results. Besides the best team and runners up, there is also a prize for the best client.

07.00PM:GNLU wins the competition.
Ujval Mohan and Sakshi Sharma from Gujarat National Law University bags the Justice P. Govinda Menon Memorial Ever Rolling Trophy. ?Jayant Karn and Amit Kale of VM Salgocar College of Law are adjudged as Runners up of the Competition. Gayathri S.B. of Kerala Law Academy is selected as the Best Client of the Competition.