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'Unforgettable' that's what they were

By Laila Nasry

There was no stopping their talking. It was definitely not nineteen to the dozen, more like a million to the second. Three shiny-eyed young people sat before me, a lawyer and two law students, with nothing but joy and excitement written all over their faces... recalling the unforgettable four days of their lives.

Sonali Siriwardena, Shanaka Cooray and Sharmaine Gunaratne were in Northern Ireland from April 4-8 participating in the International Client Counselling Competition. It was the first time that the Sri Lanka Law College in its 100-year history fielded a team and a jolly good one at that.They had what it took-a smile...a nod...engaging personalities...analytical minds, essential in the art of client counselling which incidentally involves helping a client who has a problem, with emphasis on the person behind the problem.

Having got to know of the competition through e-mail, the Principal of Law College was very keen to send in a team. Client counselling is an important but over looked facet of legal education in Sri Lanka and it was felt that this competition would be an ideal way of creating more awareness. The team was unanimously picked through the Moot Society, by a panel of judges consisting of the Principal and a cross section of Law College students. At the end of the selection process they had "a grand total of just twelve days to prepare" for the competition and were subject to individual training by the Principal who on many occassions acted as the client with the problem.

The competition held at Queen's University saw representatives from 12 countries vying for the top slot, all strong teams, equally competent in inter-personal skills. The team found that standards had risen considerably in comparison to the previous year's final which they had watched on tape. Though they had a short time to prepare and were there for the first time, it made no difference. They had over-riding confidence... Sri Lankan charm and winning personalities.

They were presented with three scenarios all based on consumer law and their clients were professional BBC actors. "They came in, all professional and prepared but after some time with all our grinning and nodding they relaxed and grinned and nodded in return," says Shanaka. It was their personal charm and spontaneity that won them commendation from the judges who felt that they drew much more of the story from the client than other teams by using these techniques. "It was the actors in us that came to the rescue, especially in post counselling discussions," Sonali says with a grin.

The team was helped by David Taylor, a Professor of Law, whom they fondly refer to as 'coach'. He found them to be an impressive team and wrote back to the Law College Principal.

They impressed everyone they met so much, that they were dubbed 'unforgettable' by the Chairperson of the competition F. Mosten. They were called on stage to do a little performance on the last day. Of them Mr. Mosten said, "they contributed their warmth and laughter at every social and cultural event as well as their musicial talent."

"It felt real good and we definitely left a good impression," they said with wide grins.

They played competitors, ambassadors and now back in Sri Lanka they are playing pioneers, in the promoting of making client counselling in legal circles. They hope to involve the Law Faculty and the Open University so that in future competitions the best team from all three institutions can go in. Next year's competition will be held in New Zealand.

They were a great team. They had what it took. Though the team didn't get into the finals, they did win. It was a win of all sorts.

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