Two Scots law students are off to the land of dust, dirty money and air-conditioned insanity to represent the legal profession in a battle of international wits. Follow our two intrepid travellers as they progress through the International Client Counselling competition in Scotland's name, trying their best to sidestep martinis, mobsters and madness (or possibly embrace all three) in their quest for glory.

Day 2: Mon 30th March

It is better to travel hopefully...

After weeks of talking and debating over what we might get up to in Vegas with our fellow peers we set off on Monday. As ever, to keep costs down, we both went on our own unique routes. Vic: Edinburgh-Paris-L.A.-Las Vegas. I thought I was only going Glasgow-London-Las Vegas, however on arrival at Glasgow Airport in early hours of the morning I was informed I was taking the scenic route via Philadelphia. Slight detour, but nonetheless still getting to the desired final location. The actual travelling was fine; with even going through passport control in Philly bearing relative ease (I was slightly paranoid after hearing various horror stories about US Immigration). I am though still amazed at the paranoia shown by US Immigration with the many questions they ask and indeed who they consider to be a risk when letting you in the country. The best examples being that only 1 of the 3 Nigeria entourage, for what is an International Competition, were granted Visas for the US; and the Cambodian team are only allowed to stay for a day either side of the competition.

Arrival in Vegas itself certainly awoke the senses after 24 hours of flying. Never having visited Vegas, you can’t help but be taken aback by the sheer size and glitz of it all. Vic escorted me up the Strip (that’s not a euphemism in case you are wondering; the Strip refers to the main street, the Sauchiehall Street if you wish, of Vegas) and one cannot help but be amazed at the various resorts and famous copied landmarks. High class indeed. So on our first night I managed to visit the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Statue of Liberty and visit Venice all in the space of an hour.

We had booked the Monte Carlo Resort which I must say was an excellent choice by Vic as for an extremely reasonable price we are staying at a grand hotel that has in a small way slightly escaped the crass of many of the other resorts in the city. That first night we also learned that in this extreme gambling State, one can blag anything – from food and drinks to an impressive upgrade in our hotel – ideal for us students! That now famous of all blags with our fellow competitors, came after a chat with one of the receptionists which resulted in a change in rooms from the 3rd to the 28th floor with an (as they say here) awesome view of the strip and the desert beyond. Something which our original booking certainly did not entail. The excellent views were to come in useful later as we met our fellow competitors the next day.

Day 4, Wednesday 1 April

And so it was the University of Nevada (UNLV as they like to call it) on the 1st April. However on arriving it was slightly disheartening to find that no one seemed to have heard of the Boyd School of Law. . . was this a rather cruel April fool we thought? Fortunately we stumbled upon the building for registration. The rest of that afternoon was taken up by a lecture on cultural awareness. To be honest it wasn’t the most invigorating 2 hours of my life but my sympathy’s extend to the Irish team, Michael and Gerry, who had partaken in the 24 hour lifestyle the night/day before. What we heard in that lecture was that we are all from different cultures. Shocking I know, being from 20 different countries and 5 continents. Afterwards there was time for introductions and small talk, but unfortunately nothing had been officially organised for the evening. So the Scottish team took it upon themselves to get the ball rolling so to speak, and promote the idea of cultural awareness that we had been early lectured on, by extending our culture of hospitality. Yes that’s right we filled the bath with ice and loaded it with plenty of refreshments and invited everyone round for an evening of high-brow conversation and humorous anecdotes of the differences between the weather in Scotland compared to Sri Lanka/Hong Kong/Australia/Ireland (!) etc. And of course a chance to show-off our blag of an upgrade.

To be honest a most enjoyable evening was had (and hopefully by everyone else) and we felt proud that the void of a formal reception in the evening was filled by the Scots! A note on the Sri Lankans – enthusiasm in abundance that shocked even myself with their conversational skills in a group of new people. I bowed to their outgoing natures! It was good to see that on the whole, most teams were treating the week as an experience and not purely as a competition that is there to be won, or indeed lost.

You’re probably wondering when we are actually going to do any work or even fleetingly mention any kind of legal educational experience. Fear not, the competition starts the next day and I look forward to keeping you notified of our situation on the next post.

Keith

About the bloggers:

Keith Anderson -"I am 22, originally from Glasgow. I have lived in Aberdeen since coming here for University in 2004. I was happy to graduate from Scotland's best Law School last year with a 2:1! I'm currently doing the Diploma in Legal Practice at Aberdeen and can't wait to start my traineeship with Aberdein Considine & Co in May in their busy Litigation, Lender Services & Employment Department. Other than the invigorating DLP I work for David Lloyd in Aberdeen as a lifeguard and Kids sports coach, and part-time for Aberdein Considine in their Financial Services office. My main interests outside of the law and work are sporting and socialising. I unfortunately don't have as much time as I would wish to play as much sport as I would wish, but I am looking forward to going back to play cricket this season. Bring on Vegas!!"

Victoria Grier - "I am also 22 and originally from Blairgowrie, Perthshire. I studied for my LLB at Edinburgh University and moved to Aberdeen to do my Diploma in Legal Practice. Ironically I am also currently working for a casino in Aberdeen. Although I have considerable(!) legal experience, including a month in New York I have been unable to secure a traineeship in these tough economic times. My interests outside of the law are travelling; I have been as far a field as Cambodia and once spent 2 months working in New Zealand. I hope to visit Japan in the coming year if my endeavours of employment searching are unsuccessful! Look forward to pitting my wits against the various scholars from around the world!"