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LA1107: Contemporary Practice

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Assessment 2: Written Reflection

LA1107: Contemporary Practice

Assessment 2: Written Reflection

REFLECTING ON THE CLIENT INTERVIEW PROCESSS:

I MY EXPERIENCE OF THE CLIENT INTERVIEW EXERCISE: The Client interview exercise tested the interviewer’s skills with their partner in a simulated office environment. The simulation of this workspace took place in the lecture theatre with the utilisation of desks and readily available student writing equipment. In preparing for the interview process, I took the necessary time to set up a small area with two chairs a foot apart from one another. Both for myself and my respective partner. Subsequent time then was utilised to prepare for the role of the character, first for the interviewer for me and then for the interviewee later, as well as any potential questions useful for the immediate interview. During the interview I was slightly nervous as to the unexpected nature of the scenario. Being placed on the spot and expected to react to the situation in the according manner is not easy. This is likely where a few errors in the conduction of the interview were made. The interview that I conducted was more in the style of an interrogation than a standard interview. Too much concentration was placed on the questioning of the interviewee rather than allowing conversation to naturally arise.

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LA1107: Contemporary Practice

Assessment 2: Written Reflection

At the end of the interview, I did not manage to complete everything that I was supposed to do as a result.

II MY REACTION TO THE CLIENT INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE: The performance of the interview was below adequate for my own standards as I failed fundamentally to accomplish the central objectives that were expected of my role such as the extraction of relevant legal information and the satisfaction of the interviewee. The interview thus did not go as I planned and major developments on my part in terms of body language, questioning strategy and time management are needed to be improved on. went somewhat ok, although there could be major improvements on my part in terms of body language, questioning and time management. The interviewee’s response was a mix of agitation and stress emanating from a central point of dissatisfaction that I can hint in the tone of voice, gestures and other non-verbal forms of communication. Although working with a partner was a good experience and there were no problems, however there were major criticisms in how I approached the interview. For instance, the interviewee offered major feedback as to changing the types of questions from closed to open ones that I used and altering body language to be more accommodating to the client.

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LA1107: Contemporary Practice

Assessment 2: Written Reflection

III WHAT I LEARNED FROM MY EXPERIENCE: The academic literature helped to illuminate the points made by the interviewee during feedback time. Connection between the client and interviewer is essential in creating not just a client relationship but success in the operation of business endeavours.1 Establishing firm client relationships allows for lawyers to enhance prestige of the firms that they work at and allows for longevity of personal relationships, as the clients will follow the lawyer if there is a rapport between the two.2 Emphasis on connection with the client is essential to the interview process and thus needs to be utilised more effectively for an interview to be truly successful. There is a lot of finer elements to the process than I had initially thought. These include non-verbal stance, ability to empathise with the client, range of questioning and degree of seriousness in the questioning along with the time utilised. These 1 Jill Howeison and Shane L Rogers, ‘Rethinking the Lawyer-Client Interview: Taking a Relational Approach’ (2019) 26(4) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 659, 659. 2 Ronit Dinovitzer, Hugh P Gunz and Sally P Gunz, ‘Reconsidering Lawyer Autonomy: The Nexus Between Firm, Lawyer, and Client in Large Commercial Practice’ (2014) 53(3) American Business Law Journal 661, 679.

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LA1107: Contemporary Practice

Assessment 2: Written Reflection

factors are all important for an effective interview between the client and interviewer.3 The interviewer is the gate keeper to solving the problems of the situation that the client has at hand and this involves dynamic approaches. Important to note that the interviewee must be able to be persuaded to help facilitate a solution to their own problem, as well as subject to information gathering.

The improvements that I would make were I to conduct another interview such as the one that I did conduct would be as follows: 

There would be more time put into preparing the interview by researching the client and allowing for the environment to facilitate an element of control on my part.

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I would ask more open questions and ease up on the aggressive stance that was employed during the original interview. This means fundamentally changing the style of questioning and anticipating as well as adapting to mood changes of the client.

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Limiting narrow questions for more poignant places as direction is essential. Content of the interview will need to include a degree of overall direction towards solving the scenario presented by the client and keeping the solution of that scenario in line with keeping the client in the legal sphere rather than seek alternative measures to pursue justice. IV CONCLUSION:

3 Giles Watson, ‘More than words: Client interview fundamentals’ (2012) 32(3) Proctor 41,

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LA1107: Contemporary Practice

Assessment 2: Written Reflection

The interview process is aimed at preparing potential lawyers for the different scenarios that each will be faced with when dealing with clients from diverse backgrounds. Understanding that the process involves humans with emotions requires an in depth understanding of one’s emotional intelligence and knowledge, as well as adaptability. The lessons learnt during this process for myself are centred on that grounding segment, where the interviewer is the gate keeper for the client’s solution to their issues in the legal sense. Without keeping that client on focus with the legal pathway, the gateway to alternative more illicit forms of help might be pursued. Therefore, the interview process for me was a way to engage with that meta understanding of the function of the interview process and how important it is for the potential lawyer to develop. Working in a team with another person requires a dynamic skill set. There are elements in the interview process where having another individual present helps emphasise the simulation and allows for the skills to be utilised in practise. Skills such as empathetic communication between the client and interviewer do come into sight when a real individual is present. That ability to understand the nonverbal, verbal and other forms of communication from another allows an ability of learning. Allowing the element of reality to come into fruition which makes another person essential to the learning process. Word count: 1085

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