8 - Legal Interviewing Flashcards
retainer
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
engagement letter
a letter that identifies the scope of services to be provided by a professional and the payments to be made for such services
declination
a formal rejection
default
1 - the failure to take action
2 - the failure to exercise a legal duty
statute of limitations
a law stating that civil or criminal actions are barred if not brought within a specified period of time
interviewee
the person being interviewed
intake memo
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
grounds
reasons that are legally sufficient to obtain a particular remedy or result
relevant
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
evidence
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
substantive law
non-procedural laws that define or govern rights and duties (e.g. the duty to use reasonable care to avoid injuring someone)
fact particularization (FP)
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
interrogatories
a method of discovery by which one party sends written questions to another party (“rogs”)
discovery
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)
deposition
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
inference
a deduction or conclusion reached from facts
analogy
a comparison of similarities and differences
timeline
a chronological presentation or significant events, often using text and diagrams
objective
dispassionate; not having a bias
contingency case
a case in which clients pay attorney fees only if they win through litigation or settlement
breach of contract
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
jargon
specialized or technical language used by a particular group or profession that may not be understood by the general public
open-ended questions
a broad, relatively unstructured question that rarely can be answered in one or two words
overview questions
an open-ended question that asks for a summary of an event or condition
closed-ended question
a narrowly structured question that usually can be answered in one or two words, often yes or no (directed question)
chronological questions
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
leading questions
a question that suggests an answer within the question
hostile
unfriendly or antagonistic
corroborative question
a question designed to verify (corroborate) facts by seeking additional or supportive facts
combination questions
a question that has more than one part
multiple-choice questions
a question that asks the interviewee to choose among two or more options stated in the question
add-on question
a question that is added to the end of another related question, both stated in one sentence (double-barreled question)
wrap-up question
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
