Tips on interviewing clients: For Lawyers

The interview

1. Welcome your client and establish high standards of client care.
2. Deal with professional conduct matters at the start and end of the interview.
3. State the purpose of the interview to your client.
4. Understand the details of the situation and what outcome your client seeks (client goals).
5. Identify how your client’s aims can be achieved by discussing options.
6. Reach decisions about the most appropriate way forward to get what your client wants and the priority of those goals.
7. Be clear about the likely time and financial implications involved.
8. Remain transparent and ensure your client is not running any financial risks.

Questioning technique

1. Let your client explain everything to you in their own words and determine what information you have received is relevant and irrelevant to the case.
2. Use leading, factual, open questions to fill in the gaps. For example, ask the context of the situation: ‘what happened? Who, when, where ‘I don’t expect you’ll…’ ‘Can you describe…’ etc.… and avoid restrictive, closed questions that merely require a ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘don’t know’ answers at the outset.
3. Ask questions to determine the dynamics of the event. For example, why did you think that? How?
4. Invite your client to talk, for example, "Tell me about," "I’d like to hear about," etc. If your client is silent for a while, they may be struggling to find the right words, feel embarrassed, or have something painful to talk about, so do not rush your client to speak.
5. Do not assume you know what the problem is if you do not have all the information.
6. Summarise to ensure you understand your client’s issues by asking finally asking closed questions and work within the values of your firm.

Active listening

1. Remember, you are interviewing to listen, ask relevant questions, respond appropriately to what you have heard and gather all the necessary information at the outset to avoid repeat meetings. This will save your client both time and costs.
2. Allows you to ask appropriate questions to understand your client’s concerns, understand the information provided and what lies behind the facts of the case, verify any evidence and understand the legal aspects.
3. Pay attention to your client’s emotional state and perhaps respond by saying ‘you sound upset about that’. A business person, on the other hand, may have little concern for the emotional details of the case.
4. Oral communication can be ignored, misunderstood or forgotten, so make accurate file notes during the meeting and confirm these details are correct with your client during that meeting.

Advice

1. As a problem-solver, your job, ultimately, is to help your client by applying the law to the facts and giving legal advice accordingly.
2. Set out a plan of action and provide preliminary legal and non-legal options in ordinary language that your client will understand to help your client decide which course of action to pursue.
3. Advise on the merits of the case after reviewing any expert’s reports, investigating the facts further, etc., and explain how the law fits your client’s problem.
4. What does the client need to prove?
5. Highlight the costs and risks involved with litigating.
6. Agree on a course of action and do not mislead your client.