A lawyer has a crucial role to play, while conducting any interview. An interview done with precession, not only helps in gathering the pertinent data in a more efficient manner, but also helps in increasing the satisfaction of the clients. The understanding on part of the lawyer, regarding the crucial role which they play during the interviews, is reflected in their interview style. Moreover, while any client interview is conducted, the lawyers are required to establish a link between the ethical theories and the skills pertaining to client interviews. This discussion highlights exactly how the understanding plays a major role in interview style of a law and the link between the ethical theories and the client interview skills.
Whenever an interview or counseling is carried on by the lawyers, they have to keep the central goal in mind, and cannot be lost in details or techniques. This central goal is enough to generate a flow of information which is accurate, and which reaches on a mutually decided decision. Lawyers are aware that they have to attain proper information for attaining their goal. For this, they have to communicate their questions in a precise and an accurate manner. So, instead of asking “What else happened?” the lawyers would ask, “What happened after you entered your apartment?” as this is a precise question, which will get a precise answer. The next thing is for the lawyers to maximize the ability of their client towards their willingness to answer. Understanding the significance of willingness of the client, the lawyers adopt an approach of developing trust and understanding. By developing mutual respect and confidence, the information can be attained in an easier manner.
To attain the information from the client, it is crucial for the lawyers, that while they conduct the interview, they listen. An efficient lawyer would always listen to their clients, and develop a sponge-like ability, which helps in absorbing all the information. It is crucial to attain all the information, instead of rushing on what seems as important information. A skillful lawyer would also try to increase the completeness, validity and clarity in the response of its clients. Merely accepting the statements of the client are not sufficient and they need to be probed for further disclosures, or supporting facts. And lastly, the lawyers are required to regard the clients’ problems at the top most of priority. This is where the technical expertise of the lawyers comes in play, as the decisions taken after acknowledging the problems of the clients form the entire case of such client. This is where the lawyers explain the strengths and the weaknesses of the case, along with highlighting the various alternatives to the clients.
Along with the understanding of their role, the lawyers are required to form a link between the legal ethics theory and the interview skills for the clients. The deontological model denotes that the acts are obligatory in a moral manner, irrespective of the consequences for the human happiness. A lawyer would be deemed to have disobeyed the moral law, in case his client is an individual who has been convicted of being a mass murder, when the lawyer safeguards his clients’ even when the client is a threat to the general public. Immanuel Kant, the leading philosopher of deontological ethics, argues that a moral duty could not be contravened even when following the same would result in others being harmed. So, when a lawyer conducts any interview, they are required to act in a moral manner, and have to keep the happiness of the human separate. For instance, it is the moral duty of a lawyer to explain to his client that the particular task done by the client was unlawful and that it would result in a fine or imprisonment, even though this may make his client unhappy. So, while discussing the various alternatives available to the client, he would have to be informed about the consequences of his actions, despite his reactions.
Another legal ethical theory which has to be linked while conducting an interview of a client relates to the sociological element. While conducting any interview, the lawyers are required to adhere to four values, i.e., advocacy, social responsibility, public interest/ justice, and lastly collegiality. Under advocacy, the lawyers, as highlighted above, are required to advice their clients about the applicable rules, regulations and the laws, along with representing them in an adequate forum. As per the social responsibility, which is in line with the deontological model, given by Immanuel Kant, the lawyers have to keep the law and justice as supreme and cannot depict fidelity towards the law. So, even if the client pays any sum of amount to the lawyers, they cannot sabotage the law. While conducting the interviews, the public interest and the sense of justice has to be kept supreme by the lawyers. The lawyers have to be willing to defend the causes or such people who require special help in attaining justice, notwithstanding their self-interest. Lastly, they have to depict an ideal of professionalism, mutual self-regulation, collegiality and courtesy amongst the members of their profession. So, while they conduct an interview, they cannot denote or make an implication, that a particular X lawyer or an ABC law firm is incompetent or lacks the ability to provide a proper counseling to the client.
Apart from the legal ethical theories, at times, the lawyers are required to adopt some of the ethical theories, for instance, virtue ethics. In virtue ethics, the individual is required to show good character, which includes temperance, honesty, justice and courage. So, while conducting an interview, the lawyers are required to be completely honest to their clients and have to uphold the notion of justice.
Hence, it can be concluded that the understanding of the role of the lawyers, is very crucial for any case, and the same is depicted in the interview style of a lawyer. Understanding the need of gaining confidence and trust, along with proper disclosures, the lawyers develop understanding with their clients and listen to their stories in the entirety, instead of cutting short the interview and depending upon just the crux of the matter. More importantly, the legal ethical theories are also upheld in the client interviews, where they uphold the moral law and justice, and make proper full disclosures to their clients regarding the available options and their position under the law. Hence, the interview skills of any lawyer play a significant role in bringing justice to the client and also, in upholding the spirit and letter of the law.
As highlighted in the previous part, the understanding plays a crucial role in the interview style and demands certain skills to be present in the arsenal of a lawyer. For me, the most important skill which has to be developed is listening wholly and patiently to the client. I have a habit of cutting short the entire conversation and skipping to the key points. And at times, I cut short the interview, when I feel that all the answers required to form a case are present. This results in certain crucial elements being skipped, which cause a problem for me. Hence, I need to work on my listening skills and developing patience, so that I could properly bring my client to justice.
In order to improve upon my listening skills, I will start listening to my fellow classmates, by making a scenario where they are the clients and I am their lawyer. I would request them to dictate a long incident and work on developing both my listening and patience skills. Along with this, I would read and listen to the transcriptions of the court, which would help me in developing a listening habit. Once, this is done, I would move towards summarizing the key issues which I gathered from the entire scenario and look for the things which I missed. These missed points would highlight my success or failure in development of my listening skills. I would than go over again with my friends, to continue working on my listening skills.
Another aspect which I need to work on relates to the probing of the validity of the response of the clients and would try to attain complete information from the clients. I need to work on my skills regarding how to question the clients which would get me more specific and more detailed answers. As listening and patience are my problem areas, I often stop at the key points of the case and forget to explore and ask more. This can result in problems for me in the future, when I conduct the interview skills, as I would not be able to attain the complete information from the clients, which could validate the points put forward by me.
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