On February 24-25, 2024, with support from the USAID Rule of Law Program, the Free University of Tbilisi hosted the national rounds of the Client Counseling Competition 2024.

Six teams from five universities in Georgia participated in the competition: Free University of Tbilisi (2 teams), Ilia State University, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University, Gori State University, and Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. The competition focused on the topic of International Humanitarian Law.

To prepare the teams, a two-day training session was conducted on February 17-18, 2024. During this training, lawyer Sandro Bibilashvili acquainted the teams with the fundamentals of client counseling skills and provided them with valuable tips to enhance their performance. On the second day of training, the teams engaged in simulated client counseling sessions with actors portraying clients, receiving detailed feedback from the trainer.

In the initial stage, each team conducted one consultation. Based on assessments by the judges (lawyers Nino Soselia, Ana Rekhviashvili, Davit Tabatadze, Giorgi Tsamalaidze), three teams with the highest scores advanced to the final round. The winner of the competition, as determined by the following judges: lawyer Kakha Sharabidze, International Legal Foundation’s Program Director in Georgia Allan Dahl and USAID Rule of Law Program’s Deputy Chief of Party Herbert Bowman, was the team from the Free University of Tbilisi, with the second place also secured by another team from Free University of Tbilisi. Nino Lomidze, a member of the team from Ilia State University, was recognized as the Best Lawyer of the competition, securing third place.

All participants received certificates of participation. The winning team will have the opportunity to represent Georgia at the International Client Consulting Competition, scheduled to be held from April 10-13, 2024, at John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin, Poland, co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.