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Client interviewing in diverse contexts: its global implications
Introduction
• Nottingham Law School
articlestory
How to become a …
Solicitor– Undergraduate law degree (LLB)– Vocational course (LPC) (interviewing assessment)– Training contract
Barrister– Undergraduate law degree (LLB)– Vocational course (BPTC) (conferencing assessment)– Pupillage
Registered trade mark attorney– Academic stage– Professional certificate in trade mark law and practice (interviewing assessment)– 2 years supervised practice/4 years unsupervised
practice (in parallel with study)
Continuing legal education for all
Client interviewing skills
Variations
Students at different
levels
Different kinds of client
context Different cultures
Problems of different
degrees of complexity
Different teachers and
assessors
Different kinds of interview
Variation and variation theory
• Learning from variation ourselves
• Harnessing variation theory as a pedagogy with students.
The educational challenge
VariationStandardisation
Standardisation: Interview structure
• Calgary/Cambridge medical model
• British Columbia legal model
• Flexible tool
• Balance
• Build in variation
The client dimension
Different kinds of client
context
Different cultures
Cultural communication challenges for the lawyer
• “the ability to effectively and appropriately execute communication behaviors to elicit a desired response in a specific environment” (Chen & Starosta 1998)
Six stumbling blocks of intercultural communication Laray M Barna (1997)
• Anxiety
• Assuming similarity instead of difference
• Ethnocentrism
• Stereotypes and prejudice
• Nonverbal misinterpretations
• Language
The lawyer dimension
Different kinds of interview
Specialisation in different areas
Students at different
levels
Different kinds of client
context
The Lawyer – a moving target?
• The lawyer’s role(s)?
• Different kinds of lawyers: – New/established– Generalist/niche
• Context– Private practice/in house– Financial targets/budgetary constraints
Interviewing “registers”
• Scribe
• Journalist
• Interpreter
• Detective
• Editor
• Psychologist
• Teacher
• Lawyer…
The client focus
(Boulle & Nesic)
Interviewing “static”
The interview “endgame”
• Lawyers and “informed consent”– Comfort in patterns
• Commerciality and pragmatism– Limited palette of options: “good enough”
rather than “best” options
• “Advice” or assistance with a decision?– Empowerment of the client
• Building rapport or establishing credibility
The teaching dimension
Different teachers and
assessors
Students at different
levels
Problems of different
degrees of complexity
The algebra of scenario design
Novices (LLB) Vocational courses Experts (practitioner courses)
No experience Limited or variable quality experience
Theories in use/espoused theories
Scenario design Realistic Within comfort zone Out of comfort zone
Standardised features Structure: as scaffold Structure: as best/normal practice/confirmatory
Structure: as tool for evaluation and reflection
Timescale, names, dates, values
Interlocking problems, client expectations/personal challenge for lawyer
Messy problems, incomplete information, legally unclear
Variable features Missing facts, details Client background Client background
? Areas of law Complex legal area Unfamiliar legal/business context (inc. international)
Additional techniques (eg cognitive interviewing)
Additional contexts (language, videoconference)
Goal competence capability transformative learning
The educational challenge
Variation
Of student levelOf problemOf clientOf cultureAs a teaching technique
Standardisation
•Of interview structure•Of clients•As a tool
• The problems– Standardised tools: servant or master?– Recognising different levels and mapping a trajectory between
them– A wider range of clients and client contexts in a globalised
context
• The solutions?– Proportionate use of the checklist– Effective use of the standardised client– Teaching for cultural competence– Embedding variation and reflection on action as teaching tools– Collaborate and learn!
Client interviewing in diverse contexts: its global implications
