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!

Jane.Ching@ntu.ac.uk

Hilary.Twycross@ntu.ac.uk

Matthew.Homewood@ntu.ac.uk

Jane.Jarman@ntu.ac.uk

Client interviewing in diverse contexts: its global implications