LAU Online: Effective Interviewing

getting the full story

In Effective Interviewing: getting the full story, participants learn the principles and skills of good interviewing through readings, exercises, and a simulation involving the case of Mona Hawkins.

Effective Interviewing belongs to the Basic Lawyering Skills series that helps lawyers develop the foundational skills necessary for a successful career in legal services. Our unique educational approach allows participants to put these new skills into practice immediately. Experienced practitioners guide and mentor participants throughout the four-week course, which also introduces the history, culture and values of the legal aid community.

What will participants learn?

By the conclusion of Effective Interviewing: getting the full story, participants will have:

• Analyzed and applied a framework for client interviewing;
• Identified barriers to effective client communication and developed skills and strategies to overcome them;
• Identified common ethical issues arising in the course of client interviewing as well as resources that can help to resolve them;
• Developed tools for integrating what they learn in the course into their day-to-day practice.

As featured in Equal Justice Magazine

"[A] hallmark of Legal Aid U.'s instructional approach since its inception has been an unmistakably strong emphasis on reinforcing the core mission of legal services to provide meaningful access to justice to those who would otherwise go without. Ordinarily, attorneys who work in legal aid receive their continuing legal education credits through their local bar associations, where classes tend to be generalized and applicable to a range of legal disciplines. Legal Aid U. offers targeted continuing legal education with a specific public interest focus."

-- "Logging Time at Legal Aid U.", Equal Justice Magazine (spring 2005)