The competition, which has been successfully run by the Law Society over the last number of years, provides law students and trainees with an opportunity to test their client communication and interview skills in scenarios judged by practising and former solicitors.

The theme of this year’s regional heat was Environmental Law and participating teams included:

• Emily McGleenon and Hayley Robinson from the Institute of Professional Legal Studies (IPLS)
• Siobhan Moss and Jodie O’Reilly from the Ulster University Magee Campus
• Kaitlin McCourt and Ciara McGreevy from the Ulster University Belfast Campus
• Fallon Burns and Dariya-Mariya Petryshyn from Queen’s University Belfast

The winning QUB team will now proceed to the final of the Louis M. Brown and Forrest S. Mosten International Client Consultation Competition which will take place at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands on 12–15 April 2023.

The winning school will receive a prize of £1,000 from the Law Society towards the travel costs.

Darren Patterson, head of professional development at the Law Society, said: “We are once again grateful to all the teams from our local universities for their enthusiasm and participation in this year’s client consultation competition.

“Congratulations to the winning team of Fallon Burns and Dariya-Mariya Petryshyn from the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) who go forward to the final of the international competition in April 2023.

“Thank you to our judging panel including Colin Mitchell, chair, from MTB Law, Niall Hargan from Carson McDowell, Ann McMahon, Law Society of Northern Ireland, and Laura Neal from Friends of the Earth.”