Client interviewing in diverse contexts: its global implications [panel]

This presentation is given by a group of academics from Nottingham Law school, the law faculty of Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Nottingham Law School is unique in the UK in providing the postgraduate vocational stage for three legal professions (solicitors, barristers and trade mark attorneys) as well as academic undergraduate and postgraduate courses. In addition, its staff teach junior and senior practising lawyers in a range of contexts, including internationally and through videoconferencing. Client interviewing pervades the law school's provision. Members of the panel represent the breadth of the school's activities. This panel presentation takes the theme of "variation" to explore a number of aspects of teaching and assessing interviewing skills. Those variations will be mapped against three dimensions: the lawyer dimension, the client dimension and the teaching dimension. Within each dimension we will discuss, drawing on research literature and on our own experiences, the implications of variations including culture, seniority in practice and practice area. The panel will also explore with members and with the audience their implications for increasingly globalised and cross-cultural interaction between clients and interviewing lawyers