Free University of Tbilisi Kakha Bendukidze University Campus, 240, David Agmashenebeli alley, 0159, Tbilisi, Georgia

National Report Georgian Client Counseling Competition 2018

On 15-18 February, 2018 Georgian Client Counseling Competition (hereinafter “GCCC”) was organized by National Center for Commercial Law at Free University. The event was organized by NCCL with the sponsorship of USAID-PROLoG program administered by East West Management Institute. Topic of the competition set by the ICCC Board was “Contracts: Mistakes and other bases for non- performance”. With a purpose of participation in the competition 8 teams from various accredited Georgian Universities have been registered - Tbilisi State University, Free University of Tbilisi, Georgian Technical State University, Caucasus University, Ilia State University, Sokhumi State University, Caucasus International University. Teams have been composed of a coach, two basic team members and one alternative member. On 15-16 February the teams were provided with extensive training before the competition. They honed and practiced those skills which would assist them during the counseling process – interviewing, planning, questioning and analytical skills. Likewise, students have been involved in simulative sessions with a view of preparing themselves for the preliminary round of GCCC. Both trainers and training received mostly positive feedback from the participants. 2 teams were not able to proceed with the Competition due to the different reasons. Preliminary round held on 17 February at Free University was composed of 4 judges, 2 for Group A (including 3 teams) and another 2 for Group B (including another 3 teams). Separate cases have been discussed with two groups. Each group was provided with detailed feedback from judges after each session. Judges were practicing lawyers from local Law Firms. Based on evaluation scores, 4 teams have been asked to participate in the final round – Free University, New Vision University, Caucasus University and Ilia State University. Different case from the preliminary round was provided to 4 finalist teams. The judges gave each team with an individual feedback. The winner was determined on the basis of points, and it became a team of the Free University, 2 teams were declared the owner of the 2nd and 3rd places - the University of the Caucasus and the University of New Vision. The title of the “Best Lawyer” was given to the member of Free University team – Lika Kapanadze. All the teams received relevant certificates.

Irakli Gvaramadze National Representative of the Georgian Team, ICCC 2018.