Students compete in counseling competition
About 30 law students on Friday participated in the seventh Client Counseling Competition to put their newly acquired professional skills into practice and compete for a trip to the international competition in Puerto Rico in April. … “We created the case based on this year’s theme, commercial contracts, and tried to make it international,” said Seng Tith Kunthy, a legal adviser with East-West Management Institute, which helped organize the event. The teams were judged by international law experts such as Nicholas Koumjian, co-prosecutor at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, based on their professionalism in handling the case, from introducing themselves and their law firm’s policies to the gathering of information, offering legal and non-legal options, and summarizing the case, Ms. Tith Kunthy said. The winning team, Navinth Rethda, 20, and Nhek Pichmolyka, 19, from the Royal University of Law and Economics stood out for their particularly circumspect and attentive treatment of the pop star, carefully explaining to her the different courses of action she could take, as well as policies such as client confidentiality. They said that they were thrilled to be going to Puerto Rico. … The competition, which has been running seven years, has successfully helped train students in the skills they need to practice law, said Natalie Matranga, a British lawyer and member of the judging panel. “Cambodia’s legal system is often criticized, but competitions like this show that there is a positive commitment to improving lawyers’ skills and developing the lawyers of the future, and are a really promising sign. The standard was very impressive and the students were effective and professional,” Ms. Matranga said. …
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/students-compete-in-counseling-competition-52970/
