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Client Interviewing

Structure:
1.1 Introduction

1.2 Objectives

1.3 Elements of Interviewing

1.4 Communication function of Interview

1.5 Elements of Communication Function

1.6 Questioning during Interview

1.7 Kinds of Questions

1.8 Stages in Gathering Information

1.1 Introduction

Client interviewing and counseling is the area where clinical method is better suited. Legal
education in India overlooked several aspects of a legal professional’s work, the most
important among them being Client interviewing and counseling.
Why are these two aspects more important than the other aspects such as representation of the
client? The lawyer and client relationship is first established during the interview and it is
after the counseling that the client would choose to hire the lawyer or seek some other.
Therefore, focusing on the first meeting point of the client and the lawyer is not only
necessary but also mandatory for an effective practice of law. Poor interpersonal skills of a
lawyer would result in incompetent representation of his/her client. Building interviewing
and counseling skills would enhance effective client representation and also in securing
justice. This course on interviewing and counseling is intended to build skills in factual
investigation, interviewing, counseling and resolving ethical issues. Details of the skills that
are required are given below
1. Skills of Factual Investigation include:

 Collection of facts

 Plan for factual investigation

 Organizing and memorizing information

 Evaluation of factual information

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2. Skills of Interviewing include:

 Skills of listening

 Identifying and formulating legal issues

 Knowledge of nature of legal rules and institutions

3. Counseling Skills include:

 Gathering information relevant to the decision to be made for counseling

 Analyzing the decision to be made

 Counseling the client

 Ascertaining and implementing the Client’s decision.

4. Skills for Resolving Ethical Dilemmas include:

 Identifying the ethical issues

 Understanding ethical standards

 Process of recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas

Elements of Interviewing

Interviewing is not simply confined to gathering of facts. It essentially involves personal

interaction in a professional context. Interviewing is not mechanical – it involves persons and
persons carry emotions. Therefore, interviews are often affected by several factors such as
interpersonal skills of the interviewer, psychological and mental condition of the
interviewed, and the physical environment of interviewing (the place). The primary function
of lawyer in interviewing is communication function.

1.2. Communication Function of Interview

Most important part of client interviewing is communication. Communication is the

cornerstone of developing relationship between the client and the lawyer. At every level of
legal representation, communication may either hamper or develop the competent
representation of a client. You learn about the client through interview and you would be able
to assess the problems and requirements of the client through interview. To assess the
problems faced by a client, you need to gather all required information. This could be
achieved only by establishing a good communication with the client. Therefore, the
communication function has the following three elements:
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a) Building Trust and Rapport with the Client

b) Listening during the interview

c) Gathering facts and ascertaining the client’s problem and legal position.

Elements of Communication Function

a) Building Trust and Rapport with the Client

Clients are human beings and they are already having problems or at least they believe that
they are in a problem situation. That is why they approach you for your advice. Gathering
information is the primary task of interviewing. But information will not flow from the
client spontaneously. For example if the client comes to you with a sensitive problem,
he/she may feel shy to disclose personal problems. This is particularly so in cases of sexual
offences.
So you need to build rapport with the client and thereby win the trust of the client.
Absence of trust and rapport with the client would severely affect the revealing of
relevant information by the client. It would be difficult to obtain sensitive and personal
information in such situations. Failure to get such vital information may harm the outcome
of the case. Consequently, if you fail to focus on building trust and rapport with the client,
you would not be in a position to render effective professional service.

Method of building Trust and Rapport:

The next question is how to build the trust and how to develop rapport with the client? The
first step is that you need to concentrate on making the client comfortable before
conducting the interview. Making the client comfortable is a continuous process. Various
factors influence building a good relation with the client. Following are some of the
important factors:

Factors Influencing building a good relation with the client

 How the advocate is dressed
 The way the lawyer’s office is organised
 The way the lawyer interacts
 Keeping time
 Proper listening
 Showing genuineness and respect to the client
 Explaining confidentiality at the initial stage
 Providing privacy
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As one’s outfit is said to be an external manifestation of one’s personality, appropriate

dress code would give the client a feeling of competent representation by the lawyer.
Systematic office organization would again indicate the competency of the lawyer.
Keeping time and having concern for the client would enhance the chances of building
trust. Showing genuineness and respect to the client is an essential ingredient of
building rapport. The way you expect respect from the client, client also expects
respect from you. In fact the onus is on you to convince the client about your
competency.

Your need is to make the client believe that you really care about him and that you are
genuinely concerned about his problems. Creating privacy during interview is a key
factor for gathering all information from the client. Client would not be willing to
disclose his/her personal facts and feelings in the presence of others. Therefore, during
interview, you should avoid the presence of any other person. It is ideal that no
disturbance is caused during interviewing session. Particularly it would be a good
idea not to attend phone calls during interviewing.

To gain trust and develop rapport with the client, it is necessary for you to inform
the client in plain language that the facts disclosed in the interview is confidential
and the lawyer would not disclose it to anyone. In fact, it is better to explain to the
client the legal position that any communication made to you cannot be revealed to any
one, and that your are under the professional obligation not to disclose the contents
of the interview to any one without the permission of the client.

This information must be conveyed to the client in the beginning of the interview.
Disclosing confidentiality clause in the initial stage of interview would make the client
to reveal information which may affect the case or which the client thinks may affect
the case. The whole atmosphere during the interview should assure that the
communication to the lawyer would be kept confidential.

Listening during interview:

Interviewing is a two way process involving asking of questions as well as listening to

the client. Effective listening is as important as asking relevant questions. Though
many would claim that they know how to listen but in fact very few are good
listeners. It is true that listening is a very natural act, even newborn babies listen,
however though what many people do in reality is just hear.
Listening is a very powerful means of communication and also a way to persuade
people to talk. Listening is not the same as hearing. Listening makes you to understand
your client’s problem. Listening is nothing but understanding the other person. How
you listen is also as important as you listen. If you could demonstrate that you are
listening to the client, it would improve building rapport with the client. Demonstrating
listening does not mean concur with or appreciate whatever the client has done. It
means you should not ignore the client’s feelings at the same time do not criticize the
client what he/she had done or failed to do.
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Methods of good listening:

The following are some of the useful hints for listening:

J Pay full attention (stop all other activities while listening)

J Respond to the client (it could verbal or non verbal like nodding head)

J Show that you understand the client (narrating back to the client about his
problem in your own words)
J Show empathy

How do I listen effectively? There are three elements of effective listening:

1. Passive listening

In the initial stage you allow the client to speak without many interruptions. Why
should I not ask too many questions in the beginning? Many interruptions may stop
the flow of the information. They may derail the thoughts of the client. While the
client is speaking, you may make non committal acknowledgements like
“Yes”, “Ok”, “I see” etc to continue the flow of the speech and at the same time
to demonstrate that you are actually listening.

2. Active listening

Unlike passive listening where the client would be allowed to speak without
interruption, in active listening you need to make some reflections about what is
said by the client. While making reflection, you are not judging the client but
merely acknowledging what the client says. For example you may convey back to
the client what he/she narrated to you. Narrating back to the client serves two
purposes. 1. It shows that you are not only listening but understanding what client
said. 2. Client would correct you if you miss anything or misunderstood anything.

3. Listening to the Body Language.

In an interview both the lawyer and the client constantly communicate to each other
through body language. Body movements and gestures convey many things such
as anger, pleasure, confidence, distrust, evasiveness and a host of other feelings
and attitudes. As the saying goes “face is the index of the mind”, facial
expressions form very important part of communication.
Observing the client’s body language would give you an idea as to the reliability of
the client’s story. Many a times one may need to look at the body language to
ascertain whether what is verbally expressed is true or not. For example a client
who never looks at you indicates a severe state of total breakdown in trust, dislike,
extreme nervousness, psychiatric or physical illness or some combination of these.
None of them are good for fostering healthy professional relationship with the
client.
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Similarly, your body language also communicates to the client. Therefore, you
must be conscious about his/her body language. You have to maintain eye contact
with the client. Confidence, genuine concern about the problem of the client and
empathy towards the client could be better communicated by body language. A
perfect body language of a lawyer would definitely reassure the client.

As it was discussed above, asking too many questions in the beginning may hamper
the flow of information but you need to ask questions to gather relevant information
from the client. Asking questions becomes particularly important if the client is
wayward in explaining his problem. If a client is shy in nature you may require
asking questions even at the initial stage to encourage the client to speak. So let us
concentrate on when to ask questions and what kind of questions you could ask the
client during the interview.
1.3. Questioning during Interview:

Often the dilemma for the lawyer is what kind of questions may be asked during interview
and what would be the appropriate time to ask such questions. Questioning may involve
the potential risk of stopping the flow of information. If questions are not asked then the
client may not give relevant information. Therefore, designing proper questions and
deciding the time when they should be asked is a serious challenge to the lawyer.

1.4. Kinds of Questions

Usually in an interview three types of questions may be asked.

1. Open ended questions

The main purpose of client interviewing is to encourage the free flow of expression
of the client’s problem, his/her concerns and feelings. Therefore, you should allow
the client to narrate his/her problem with least interference. Too much interference
may derail the thoughts of the client which may result in breaking the flow of
information. Open-ended questions give liberty to provide the information
without any break and it allows the client to give the information the way he/she
wants. Clients naturally will have the control over the sequence of information.

Advantages of open ended questions

J Allows the client to give information without any interruption

J Encourages the client to give more information

J Promotes empathy
They act as ventilators for expressing the feelings of the client

J Minimizes inhibitions in communication.

J Builds rapport.
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Disadvantages

L Talkative clients and clients who are poor in differentiating relevant and
irrelevant information waste time.
L Narration many not contain sufficient information

L They may not stimulate the client’s memory.

L They may cause discomfort to shy and reluctant clients (these kind of clients
needs be encouraged to give information)

When to Use

After weighing the advantages and disadvantages of open-ended question we may

conclude that if open ended questions are used in the beginning of the interview, it
will yield good result.

Examples of open-ended questions:

 What is your problem?

 What happened to you?

 Why did you want to see me?

 What do you want?

 What help do you want?

 Tell me more

1. Narrow/specific questions

Gathering necessary facts is one of the important skills of a lawyer. Relevant

information is essential for effective representation. The information
gathered by open-ended questions only gives an overall idea about the problem of
the client. You are required to plug gaps in the information so gathered for
formulating the problem faced by the client and for theory development. Further,
the client may not give important information such as dates and the place of
incidents. Client also may not give information which he/she thinks not important.
Therefore, asking specific questions to collect such information become necessary.
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Advantages

J They guide the flow of information

J They will help in motivating the client to give more information

J They help the client to remember the details of the problem

J They are good to get information from clients of shy nature

J They are good at probing into details of a particular event

J Helps in getting more information on specific area

Disadvantages

L Limits the scope of information

L If they are asked at an improper time, may adversely affect on development of

trust and rapport
L If they are asked in the beginning of the interview it may restrict the flow of
information

L Too many questions may create hostility in the mind of client

When to Use
Specific or narrow questions may be asked after the client has completed his/her
narration

Examples of Specific Questions:

 When it happened?

 Where it happened?

 Who are the witnesses?

 What is the time?

 What is your relation?

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2. Leading questions

Leading questions means questions that contain the answer in them. Leading
questions as the name suggests, lead the client to the answer. You will be in
command in asking these questions. As these questions lead the answers they must
be asked with due care. These questions help you to confirm the details already
collected during the interview. They allow you to check the authenticity of the
information gathered from the client.

Advantages

J They help in affirming or denying the information already in your possession.

J They are useful in eliciting information which the client is consciously withholding.

Why clients withhold information?

When a client comes to you for help why would the client withhold information? Client
may withhold information because:
 The client may have thought that it may not be important or does not support the
case

 The client had done something immoral/illegal

 Or the client thinks that what he/she has done is immoral/illegal which he/she
thinks not wise to disclose
Why should you know such facts?

To identify the legal problem you need all relevant facts. Client’s involvement in the
problem would many times define the legal problem. You should know the complete
story to evaluate the legal risk the client is facing or going to face.
Further, you need to know all the facts to avoid surprise when opposite party makes a
reference to it. It allows you to develop a possible defense when the opposite
lawyer makes a reference.

Disadvantages

L It may embarrass the client

L Sometimes if client is not sure of the answer he may pick up the answer from
the question
L Too many leading questions may give an impression that the lawyer does not
trust the client
L It has the potential of breaking mutual trust and confidence.
When to Use
Leading questions may be asked at the concluding stage of the interview.
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1.5. Stages in Gathering Information.

Gathering information in an interview could be in three stages

1. Preliminary Problem Identification

At this stage you need to get an idea of what is the client’s perspective of the
problem and what legal relief the client is looking for. At this stage you should
encourage the client to narrate his problem with least interference possible. When
you are sure that the client has completed description of problem, you may
conclude the session by summarizing the problem and the relief. The purpose of
such summarization is to convey to the client that you understood the problem and
the relief the client is seeking. Another advantage is that if you did not understand
any particular fact or misunderstood any fact, the client gets an opportunity to
correct it. At this stage you could ask open-ended questions.
2. Chronological Overview

At the second stage you have to check the story in a chronological order. This
enhances your task of understanding the problem of the client. At this stage you
would gather facts that lead to the event, facts immediately surrounding the event
and facts following the event. You could ask questions to fill the gaps left in the
client’s narration. Asking specific questions at this stage would immensely help
you to comprehend the problem.

3. Theory development.
After chronological overview of the problem, you have to develop the theory i.e.
giving name to the problem for example that it is a case of theft, robbery or dacoity.
Once the theory is developed then apply the theory to the facts to check
whether it fits with the facts given by the client. While doing such an exercise,
you may need more information or sometimes need to check the client’s story.
This becomes necessary to decide the probable cause of action and the defenses
available. In such a case you would require to continue the interview. At this stage
leading questions could be asked.

On the whole, interviewing is maintaining a healthy relation with the client.

Making the client comfortable, actively listening to the client and asking the right
questions at the right time is the essence of interviewing.
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ONE EXAMPLE OF CLIENT COUNSELLING FOR YOUR REFERENCE

CLIENT INTERVIEWING SESSIONS

SESSION I

Advocate: Good Evening and welcome. Please have a seat. Would you like some
refreshments? Hope your journey was not arduous.

Client: No, thank you.

Advocate: So, please tell me what brings you here? How can I help you? Please be assured
that whatever you say here is confidential and I cannot convey this information to anyone.

Client: I am going through a huge trauma. I am sick of my husband and his relatives. All they
want from me is a child. They don't understand that I have to focus on my career, and I am
not ready for a child right now. I have tried to explain my situation in every possible manner,
but nothing has worked. For once, I can understand if my in-laws demand a child because
they have always been extremely conservative. But these days my husband also
unconditionally supports them. I feel frustrated. I went to my maternal home thinking that he
would understand his mistake and come back to apologize. But that never happened.

Advocate: I understand your situation. Have you tried couple counselling and/or mediation?

Client: We have tried everything, but nothing seems to work. The situation is getting worse
and we have many misunderstandings.

Advocate: Does your husband also want a divorce?

Client: Yes, he also wants to end this marriage and is willing to co-operate in the entire
procedure. Both of us want this to end peacefully.

Advocate: Okay. How long have you been married and how long have you been living
separately!

Client: We have been married for six years now, But since the past two years, we have been
living separately.

Advocate: Okay, okay. So, in this case, we can file for a divorce by mutual consent. It is
provided under Section 138 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. I will need some documents
like the marriage invitation cards, photographs, certificates or any other valid proof of
marriage etc. from you before proceeding.

Client: Yes, I will do the needful. How long will it take to get the divorce?
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Advocate: So, after filing the divorce petition, you and your husband will be called by the
court. The court generally adjourns the matter for a period of 6 months. After six months you
both have to be present in the court again for making a second motion confirming the mutual
consent filed earlier. It is only after this second motion that a decree of the divorce is granted
by the court. During this six-month period, either of you can withdraw the petition.

Client: Thank you. You have put my mind at ease.

Observations

When the client came, I observed her body language and inferred that she was worried,
nervous and desperately needed a solution. As soon as she sat down, she started talking about
her problems in a disjointed manner and her opening statement was that she didn't want to
waste any more time and get down to problems. It seemed that she had rehearsed everything
and just wanted to spill it all out. I noticed that when a client is talking, he she shouldn't be
stopped for speaking to someone else on a different case, otherwise they get anxious and a
feeling that no one is interested in their issue. I also observed that the lawyer always had an
eye contact with the lady, which made her comfortable and the urge to proceed with her story
Saying encouraging words like "I understand", "I know", "exactly" etc. help relax the client
and make her speak up all details. Another important point was that the lawyer should take
notes only of the important dates and events and not be engrossed in the note book in general.
The lawyer can quote relevant acts and sections in order to make the client confident that she
has approached the appropriate person. The confidentiality clause stated in the beginning
made her speak of her intentions honestly and how in the present case, she desperately
wanted divorce from her husband. Her husband had already agreed to it and thus the lawyer
informed her that she would get mutual consent under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage
Act, 1955.
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SESSION 2

Advocate: Please have a seat. Hope the journey till the office did not trouble you. How are
you now

Client: Yes I am fine, thank you.

Advocate: How can I help you? Please rest assured that whatever you say here is confidential
and I cannot and will not convey this information to anyone.

Client: What if I don't continue with you as my advocate? I need to ask this question for my
mental peace.

Advocate: Yes, surely. Please tell me everything in detail so I can help you in the best
possible manner.

Client: So, the other day, I had to go to some place that was 5 mins away from my house.
Normally, I take my driver with me everywhere, but he wasn't available, and I was in a hurry.
Though I don't drive often now, but I used to drive a lot earlier. While coming back from that
place, a motorcycle was coming in my direction. Now the thing was that the motorcyclist was
coming in the wrong direction and that too in high speed. Perplexed, I tried to put brakes in
the car, but unfortunately, I couldn't, and we collided. There were three people on the
motorcycle husband, wife and child, and none of them had helmets on. The wife got seriously
injured in the head and started bleeding instantly, the other two also faced minor injuries. I
called for help from nearby and called my driver to take them to the hospital. I am really
scared about this entire situation. It was not my fault at all, but because I was in the bigger
vehicle, a car, I think I am in trouble.

Advocate: I am very sorry to hear that. Do you have a valid driving license"

Client: Yes, I do

Advocate: Good. Have you spoken to the motorcyclist? How is his wife?

Client: She is stable now.

Advocate: That is a relief So, from what you have told me there was no fault of yours. The
motorcyclist was driving fast, didn't have helmets on and was coming in the opposite
direction. Moreover, there were three people on the motorcycle. Is that all! There is nothing
else, right?

Client: No, I have told you everything

Advocate: Okay. So, were there any eyewitnesses?

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Client: Yes, people around came and witnessed the entire accident. I have a good reputation
in the society and people will be willing to testify.

Advocate: Okay, great. Let's wait to see if the other party takes any action. Meanwhile I shall
prepare a case in your favour.

Observations

The client seemed quite apprehensive about the conservation first, but later felt comfortable.
He was very scared because he thought he would be punished because it is always assumed
that the bigger vehicle was responsible for the accident. The advocate was sensing something
that the client wasn't telling him and that is why he was asking questions like whether he had
a driving license or not etc. Hence all the legal bases were aimed to be covered by asking
about the eyewitnesses etc.