Client Interview
The Client Interview competition is a great opportunity for law students to develop their listening, client management and team skills. There is an increasing emphasis being placed on legal services being tailored for each client. After all, everybody is different, and what they will want to get out of a consultation with a legal professional is bound to vary. With this in mind, the client interview competition is perfect for anyone who would like to see how they would fare in a normal work environment.
All students from all year levels participate each year. You will work in groups of two, with the setting of the competition being a client visiting two lawyers for a preliminary meeting. With only a short (and I mean short) memorandum briefly outlining the context of the meeting, you will begin to work your magic.
Spend your twenty minutes of interviewing time wisely. Discuss your firm's fees, and help your client feel comfortable in their environment. Then work on ascertaining the issues the client is facing, separating the real legal issues from the rest of the facts. Find out if any relevant documentation is already in existence, and whether or not you are able to access these. Such documentation can include reports, contracts, photographs and other bits of evidence. Lastly, work on providing a structured solution for your client. You might still need to do more research on some issues, and more often than not more work will need to be done before anything can be achieved - but remember to inform your client of this!
You will not be judged on how much advice you give, but on the quality of your correspondence and teamwork.
The Client Interview competition sets itself apart from the others as the least adversarial of the bunch. Your skills are tested in a great mock environment where your focus is on understanding and communicating with your client. Regardless of where you place in the competition, you are bound to develop skills that are vital regardless of what you do after university. Plus, there is almost no preparation, so you really have no excuse not to sign up!
Special thanks to Corrs Chambers Westgarth for their sponsorship.
Key Dates
Applications Close: Friday 2nd April at 5PM
Demonstration round: Mon 22 March at 1PM. Room TBA
Competitions commence: Mon 26th April
If you have any questions, contact Anny Ma & Justin Meneguzzi on lss-client@unimelb.edu.au
Scoring
Click here to download the scoring sheet (PDF, 303KB).