8 - Legal Interviewing

Question 1

retainer

Answer 1

1 - the act of hiring or engaging the services of someone usually a professional
2 - an amount of money (or other property) paid by a client as a deposit or advance against future fees, costs, and related expenses of providing services

Question 2

engagement letter

Answer 2

a letter that identifies the scope of services to be provided by a professional and the payments to be made for such services

Question 3

declination

Answer 3

a formal rejection

Question 4

default

Answer 4

1 - the failure to take action

2 - the failure to exercise a legal duty

Question 5

statute of limitations

Answer 5

a law stating that civil or criminal actions are barred if not brought within a specified period of time

Question 6

interviewee

Answer 6

the person being interviewed

Question 7

intake memo

Answer 7

a memorandum that contains the facts given by a client during the initial client interview and comments by the interviewer about the client and the case

Question 8

grounds

Answer 8

reasons that are legally sufficient to obtain a particular remedy or result

Question 9

relevant

Answer 9

logically tending to establish or disprove a fact; pertinent; relevant evidence is evidence having any tendency to make the existence of a fact more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence

Question 10

evidence

Answer 10

anything offered to establish the existence or non-existence of a fact in dispute; separate determinations must be made on whether a particular item of evidence is relevant or irrelevant, admissible or inadmissible

Question 11

substantive law

Answer 11

non-procedural laws that define or govern rights and duties (e.g. the duty to use reasonable care to avoid injuring someone)

Question 12

fact particularization (FP)

Answer 12

a fact-gathering technique to generate a large list of factual questions (who, what, where, how, when, and why) that will help you obtain a specific and comprehensive picture of all available facts relevant to a legal issue

Question 13

interrogatories

Answer 13

a method of discovery by which one party sends written questions to another party (“rogs”)

Question 14

discovery

Answer 14

methods used by parties to force information from each other before trial to aid in trial preparation; the methods can also be used to aid in the enforcement of a judgment (interrogatories and depositions)

Question 15

deposition

Answer 15

1 - a method of discovery by which parties and their prospective witnesses are questioned by the opposing party before trial at a location other than a courtroom (judges are not present)
2 - a post-trial method of discovery by which the winning party seeks to uncover facts that will help it enforce the judgment it obtained against the losing side

Question 16

inference

Answer 16

a deduction or conclusion reached from facts

Question 17

analogy

Answer 17

a comparison of similarities and differences

Question 18

timeline

Answer 18

a chronological presentation or significant events, often using text and diagrams

Question 19

objective

Answer 19

dispassionate; not having a bias

Question 20

contingency case

Answer 20

a case in which clients pay attorney fees only if they win through litigation or settlement

Question 21

breach of contract

Answer 21

a cause of action seeking a court remedy (usually damages) for the alleged failure of a party to perform the term(s) of an enforceable contract

Question 22

jargon

Answer 22

specialized or technical language used by a particular group or profession that may not be understood by the general public

Question 23

open-ended questions

Answer 23

a broad, relatively unstructured question that rarely can be answered in one or two words

Question 24

overview questions

Answer 24

an open-ended question that asks for a summary of an event or condition

Question 25

closed-ended question

Answer 25

a narrowly structured question that usually can be answered in one or two words, often yes or no (directed question)

Question 26

chronological questions

Answer 26

a question designed to encourage the interviewee to describe what happened in the order in which events occurred - by date and time, step by step

Question 27

leading questions

Answer 27

a question that suggests an answer within the question

Question 28

hostile

Answer 28

unfriendly or antagonistic

Question 29

corroborative question

Answer 29

a question designed to verify (corroborate) facts by seeking additional or supportive facts

Question 30

combination questions

Answer 30

a question that has more than one part

Question 31

multiple-choice questions

Answer 31

a question that asks the interviewee to choose among two or more options stated in the question

Question 32

add-on question

Answer 32

a question that is added to the end of another related question, both stated in one sentence (double-barreled question)

Question 33

wrap-up question

Answer 33

a question asked at the end of the interview (or at the end of a separate topic within the interview) in which the interviewee is asked if there is anything he or she thinks has been left out or inadequately covered