Chewing the Fat: Legal Interviewing

• Author: Scott A. Hatch/Lisa Zimmer Hatch
• Profession: Founders of The Center for Legal Studies and developed their award-winning paralegal curriculum in 1980, offering it through 600 colleges nationwide
• Pages: 187-198

CHAPTER 12 Chewing the Fat: Legal Interviewing 187

Chapter12

Chewing the Fat: Legal

Interviewing

You’ll nd that you often get the most valuable information for a case when

you interview clients and witnesses. Paralegals often have an advantage

over their supervising attorneys when it comes to conducting interviews.

Clients may be less intimidated by paralegals and nd them to be more sensitive

and more approachable than attorneys. So, you may be able to gain more informa-

tion from a client or witness in an interview than an attorney can.

The majority of the interviews you hold serve one of two purposes: to gain infor-

mation about a case from a client or witness or to prepare the client or witness to

give testimony. This chapter shows you how to set up an interview with a client or

witness, gives you ideas for the types of questions you ask, and provides tips on

how to prepare clients and witnesses for testifying at trial.

Gauging Whether the Case Is Valid:

Initial Client Interviews

The rst and, perhaps, most important interview for any case is the initial client

interview. The primary goal of the initial client interview is to gather enough

information to determine whether the client has a valid case and to develop a

IN THIS CHAPTER

»

Conducting the initial client interview

»

Interviewing witnesses

»

Preparing clients and witnesses for

giving testimony