Client Interviewing/Attendance Note – Course Summary:
UNIT 1: ORAL SKILLS & INTERVIEWS IN LEGAL PRACTICE/ ATTENDANCE NOTE
Oral skills:
Two oral skills assessed in SQE2: (i) advocacy and (ii) client interviewing.
There are two further aspects of a solicitor’s work, negotiation and ethics and professional conduct,
which will not be tested individually but will be assessed in the SQE2.
Negotiation: SRA has made it clear that all deliveries of SQE2 will contain at least one assessment
involving negotiation.
Ethics and professional conduct: Questions will be pervasive throughout SQE2.
The practice areas:
Advocacy: (i) Dispute Resolution (contracts, tort) and (ii) Criminal litigation (criminal liability)
Client interviewing + attendance note: (i) Property Practice (land law) and (ii) Wills & Intestacy
(trusts)
Client interviewing and completion of attendance note/legal analysis:
The Email from a partner or a secretary stating who the client is and providing an indication of what the
interview client has come to discuss.
May be accompanied by docs and may indicate specific legal issues on which to have particular regard.
10 minutes to consider email and/or documents
25 minutes to conduct the interview to the client (who may be someone in vulnerable circumstances)
Assessor will assess only on the skills, not the application of law.
Aim: win the client’s trust and confidence; obtain all relevant info and as full an understanding as
possible of the client’s concerns.
No need for detailed advice at this stage. Conduct interview on basis you will advice client in detail at
a later date.
BUT: give enough preliminary advice and address enough of the client’s concerns (to establish trust
and confidence).
Attendance 25 minutes to write, by hand, an attendance note/legal analysis of the interview completed.
note/legal Record all relevant information obtained during interview, analyse any legal issues, and record your
analysis initial advice.
Also identify the next steps to be taken by the solicitor and (if applicable) the client, as well as any
ethical issues that arise and how to deal with them.
This may include options and strategies for negotiation.
Assessment objectives:
Interview: conduct an interview with a client.
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, Attendance note/legal analysis: produce an attendance note recording a client interview and
initial legal analysis.
Assessment criteria:
Application of law criteria: (i) apply the law correctly to the client’s situation and (ii) apply the law
comprehensively to the client’s situation, identifying any ethical and professional conduct issue and
exercising judgement to resolve them honestly and with integrity.
This means:
identifying relevant legal principles, key issues and risks
applying legal principles to factual issues, so as to produce a solution which best addresses a
client’s needs and reflects the client’s commercial or personal circumstances, including as part
of a negotiation
interpreting, evaluating and applying the results of research
ensuring that advice is informed by appropriate legal analysis and identifies the consequences of
different options;
drafting documents which are legally effective;
applying understanding, critical thinking and analysis to solve problems;
recognising inconsistencies and gaps in information;
using multiple sources of information to make effective judgments; and
reaching reasoned decisions supported by relevant evidence.
The threshold standard:
Candidates for SQE2 are expected to achieve level 3 of the Statement of Solicitor Competence,
which is the standard to which the competencies should be performed upon qualification as a
solicitor (the ‘Day One’ solicitor).
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,Interviews in Legal Practice:
The initial interview is usually the first time the solicitor and client meet.
Making a good first impression is crucial if the solicitor wants the client to feel comfortable enough and
confident enough to instruct the solicitor to act for them.
It is also the time to establish the terms and conditions of the retainer so that both solicitor and client
understand the work that the solicitor will undertake on the client’s behalf.
Client focus:
The skill of interviewing requires the solicitor to understand the client, not just know how to address the
legal issues that they face.
It is only by gaining a thorough understanding of the individual client and their circumstances that the
solicitor will be able to ensure that the legal services they provide are truly targeted at meeting that
client’s need and objectives,
Vulnerability:
Solicitors need to adapt their practices to identify and meet the needs of clients who may be vulnerable,
due to their personal circumstances and barriers put in place by society.
‘Vulnerable’ according to the Law Society: anyone who is at a disadvantage because of factors which
affect their access to, and use of, legal services.
The SRA Enforcement Strategy states: Vulnerability is not static: it may be short term, or permanent; and
may result from the structure of the market, the nature of legal services, the client’s personal
circumstances, or a combination of factors.
In practice it is a matter of being alert to circumstances which are likely to place the client in a
vulnerable situation and responding accordingly.
Ie. Limited literacy, bereavement, mental impairment, client is a child, or even corporate clients
vulnerable in certain transactions.
Objectives when conducting a first interview with a client:
To establish a good relationship (or rapport) between solicitor and client;
To obtain relevant information from the client;
To help the client make appropriate decisions;
To plan future action; and
To deal with client care and costs information issues.
Interviewing skills:
(i) Listening; (ii) Questioning; (iii) Anlaysing; (iv) Explaining; and (v) Note-taking.
Structure outline:
(1) Greeting
(2) Opening
(3) Listening/obtaining the relevant information
(4) Filling in the detail
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, (5) Closing
(1) Listening:
Gather information by allowing a client to talk and listening carefully to what they have to say.
Listening is also vital in gaining the client’s trust and confidence. It is essential that the client feels they are
being heard and understood.
Acknowledgements: brief indications (without interrupting) showing attention, interest and
understanding. Such as: ‘Yes, I see’
Invitations to continue/elaborate: ‘Go on’, ‘what happened?’, ‘Tell me more about that’
Reflecting feeling: make it clear you understood how the client feels.
o E.g.: ‘I can quite see why you feel so angry about this.’ Or ‘I can hear that this is really
important to you.’
o Express emphathy and do not be judgemental. This is especially important if the client’s
emotions cold be a major factor in the case (ie bereaved client, anxious client).
Silence: periods of silence give the client time to recall facts and to organize their thoughts so that they
are better able to tell the story as they remember it and to express the feelings it creates.
Body language:
o Friendly eye-contact, but not a prolonged stare;
o Leaning slightly towards the client shows attentiveness, but do not become intimidating;
o Head-nodding shows understanding, but can be off-putting if excessive.
o Avoid distracting mannerisms: ie pen-tapping, foot-drumming, reading while the client is
speaking, etc.
(2) Questioning:
In an initial interview, the solicitor needs to obtain information on:
the nature of the client’s problem or proposed transaction;
the relevant background facts; and
the client’s feelings and objectives.
It will invariably be necessary to elicit further information by questioning.
NB. avoid asking more than one question at a time and ensure that all questions are expressed clearly and
succinctly.
Open questions The advantages of open questions are that they:
allow a client to select the subject matter;
allow a client to select the information they believe to be relevant;
allow a client to start with information about which they feel comfortable;
enable a client to articulate their feelings;
give a client freedom to reflect and to feel more actively involved in the interview; and
encourage memory by association, which may produce information which would be overlooked
if a client were asked only closed questions.
However, open questions also have disadvantages:
they may initially produce insufficient information;
they may encourage a client to verbosity and/or irrelevance;
they may inhibit a reticent client.
Closed The advantages of closed questions are that they:
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