NU Law Students Win National Client Counseling Competition

Two second-year students in the University of Nebraska College of Law won the American Bar Association's National Client Counseling Competition this spring at the Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Kevin R. Corlew of North Platte and Adam D. Pavelka of Blue Hill won the competition, a mock law office competition between teams representing two law schools. Corlew and Pavelka first had to win the intramural competition against 11 other teams at the NU College of Law, then beat out 11 teams from other law schools in the regional competition at Creighton University in Omaha and 12 other regional winners in the national competition.

"This was quite an achievement," said Craig Lawson, NU professor of law. "Kevin and Adam were the best team out of perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 teams -- my very rough guesstimate -- competing this year in the United States."

The national win qualified Corlew and Pavelka for the international competition March 29 through April 2 at the Glasgow Graduate School of Law in Scotland, where they did not place in the top two among the 12 teams competing (first and second were the only places announced).

The regional win for Corlew and Pavelka was the seventh for a Nebraska College of Law team in the last nine years. Four of the teams that won regionals in that period finished in the top three at nationals, including one third, two seconds and now, one first. Corlew and Pavelka were the second NU team to win the national competition, joining the 1974 team of Susan Jacobs and Bob Cannon.

Corlew graduated from North Platte High School in 1990 and earned his bachelor's degree in music (1995) at Columbia College in Chicago. Pavelka graduated from Blue Hill Community High School in 1998 and earned a bachelor of science degree in agribusiness (2002) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

CONTACT: Craig Lawson, Professor, Law, (402) 472-1247