Since the Communication Skills Programme started in 2018, Swansea have been consistent participants in the England and Wales Client Interviewing Competition and have achieved some superb results including winning the competition in 2024, and in previous years placing 2nd and 4th.
This year, there was more success as second years Jessica Davies and Eesha Boby completed the podium sweep and finished 3rd in the National Competition, qualifying to represent Wales in the International Client Consultation Competition 2026, hosted by Zagreb in April.
The competition focuses on the skill of an initial solicitor first interview, with the students having limited information- only a general topic area (this year ‘Use of land’) and a very brief memo to help steer their preparation. It tests students on their abilities to engage with clients and develop that essential relationship that will often preface a long term solicitor-client relationship, as well as maintaining that trust while exploring the situation background and providing appropriate advice.
For Swansea students, the journey started with our internal training, including a talk by the supporters of this competition, JCP Solicitors, superbly provided by Tomos Davies from their Carmarthen offices. The internal competition involved 2 preliminary rounds with the top 4 scorers competing in the final, judged by Richard Howells, a partner at JCP Solicitors. Jessica and Eesha were successful in the Final and we selected to be our team, narrowly beating Soffia Cynwyl and Aimee McCullagh into second.
That took them to the regionals- two challenging scenarios involving a dispute with a hostile neighbour and a Tree Preservation Order dispute. Jessica and Eesha, competing in the online regional, showed superb consistency and qualified for the Nationals along with eleven other teams from across England and Wales.
The Nationals were held by St Mary’s University, Twickenham who hosted the event superbly at their beautiful campus. The Nationals involved three rounds, all challenging, including adverse possession, potential damage to land, and a camping nightmare that would have made every event organiser remember a similar set of circumstances! Jessica and Eesha coped brilliantly against undergraduate and postgraduate students and finished, again with exceptional consistency, in 3rd place. As the top scoring Welsh team they also qualified for the International competition.
Due to timing issues, Eesha was unfortunately unable to attend the Internationals and so Soffia kindly stepped in at short notice. Competing against teams from around the world, Soffia and Jessica received high praise from the judges but in an exceptionally high standard competition, they did not progress to the semi-finals. Nonetheless as the youngest team there (in some cases by around 30 years!) they demonstrated exceptional communication skills. Huge congratulations to all three for their performances, and thanks to Dr. Lowri Davies for coaching the team in Zagreb.