First year LLB students Siara Parveen and Charlotte Neal, successfully completed the regional semi-final of the Student Client Interviewing Competition (CIC) held in Sheffield earlier this month.

When asked how it felt they shared, “It was definitely unexpected, but we are both really proud of ourselves! As one of the only first year groups in the competition, we were quite apprehensive given we had less legal knowledge compared to the more experienced combinations there. So, we went in without putting any pressure on ourselves and just tried our best and it yielded the results we were looking for, and we were absolutely delighted.”

The competition has been a totally new experience for them both and has helped them to gain lots of new skills and experience in strengthening their legal knowledge in a variety of practice areas as well as communication. They told us, “When we originally signed up for the internal competition, we really had no expectations of getting beyond the first round, so we are elated to have got this far. With the help of the client interviewing team here at Warwick, we were provided with helpful feedback and guidance on our performance which we used to build on each week. The CIC has also given us the opportunity to meet a range of new people, including law students, practicing lawyers and even a Judge, which has been really insightful. This competition has been really fun for both of us, and we would definitely encourage people to sign up next year as it has been an incredible experience.”

Siara and Charlotte will be representing Warwick Law School at the national final to be held at Oxford Brooks on 11 March 2023, supported by our Head of School and academic lead for this competition, Professor Andrew Williams.

When asked about the final, the commented, “We are extremely excited for the final and looking forward to our adventure to Oxford! We are really pleased to have made it this far and we are grateful for the opportunity to compete against other top universities in the national final. To win would be an incredible achievement, but whatever the outcome we are proud of ourselves and how far we have come.”

And we are proud of them too. Best of luck to Siara and Charlotte for the final in March from everyone here at Warwick.

The Client Interviewing Competition is an annual event which encourages the promotion and development of the skills involved with client interviewing and counselling within an educational context. Its prime aim is to promote the development of lawyers' soft skills and to enable law students to practise them at a high level. Law students work in teams of two in a simulated law office. They interview and advise a “client” - a role-playing actor and are assessed on their interpersonal skills as well as their ability to handle a legal problem. Find out moreLink opens in a new window.

Left: Charlotte Neal; Right: Siara Parveen