Lawyering Flashcards
Model Rules of Professional Conduct 4-1.4
A lawyer shall
1. keep the client reasonably informed about the status of the matter
2. promptly comply with reasonable requests for information.
MRPC Preamble
A lawyer has a special responsibility for the quality of justice.
MRPC 3.3
A lawyer shall not knowingly
1. make a false statement of law to the tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal.
3. Offer evidence that the lawyer knows to be false
Cognitive interview strategies
Restate the context
Instruct them to tell every detail
Restate why it’s important you know everything
Tell them why you’re taking notes
Have them retell from another perspective or in a different order
How to identify your client’s interests
Ask open ended questions
What do you need to feel satisfied?
What is the desired outcome and why is it important?
Take a guess and let them correct
Have them try to guess the other sides interests
Stages of client interview
- Prep
- Intro (rapport)
- Open-ended phase
- Information gathering
- Probing phase
- review phase
- goal identification
- preliminary strategy
- closing
How to handle client fabrication?
Emphasize the only way you can help is if they tell the truth
Press for precise details
Ask leading questions to get the client to see the absurdity (you’re telling me ___?)
You can withdraw working for them
Witness Interviewing Best Practices
interview as soon as possible
Decided what you need to know before beginning
^ from disco, informal disco, and jury instructions.
Three ways to organize facts
- Legal elements
- Chronology
- Story model
What is the difference between advice and counsel?
Advice is the direct answer to a legal question.
Counsel is helping the client decide the right decision to make.
What are interests?
Interests are the needs, desires, concerns, fears of the party. The things that a client cares about and wants.
What are rights
Rights are independent standards that demonstrate the legitimacy or fairness of a parties’ position. Can be legal or otherwise.
What are powers
Power is the ability to coerce someone to do something they would not otherwise do.
Can be coercion without resorting to enforcement of legal rights.
Can be asserted by being aggressive or withholding benefits that may be derived from a relationship.
Adversarial approach to negotiation
Negotiation based on the distribution of limited resources (zero sum).
Each party takes the approach that they are entitled to something.
Focuses on legal rights and powers.
Problem solving approach to negotiation
negotiation based on the integration of the resources each side brings to the table so that each side is better off after negotiations.
Solution generating and evaluating approaches.
BATNA WATNA
If BATNA is better than the deal or any deal the opposing party is willing to make, that party should leave the table.
Brainstorm sources of value.
Consider non-competitive similarities.
Consider expanding existing resources (think about other interests)