Client Interviewing, Counseling, and Decision-Making: A Practical Approach

Book Synopsis: This book provides a practical approach to client interviewing, counseling, and decision-making. These are practical skills, not theoretical ones. Thus, the overall pedagogical approach taken by the text is to explain to students what to do and how to do it when engaging in interviewing, counseling, and decision-making with a client. This accords with the growing trend in law schools to de-emphasize heuristic theory in teaching practical skills and instead teach those skills in simulated real-life contexts.

Based on the guidance and techniques provided in the text, students will best learn the skills of interviewing and counseling by applying them in various role plays contained in the Teacher's Manual or through other role plays developed by their professor. Other features of this book that are worthy of mention:

The book is deliberately designed to be short—to get to the point, without unnecessary palaver.

The book provides an extensive discussion of the most pertinent provisions of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct relating to client interviewing, counseling, and decision-making.

The book discusses interviewing witnesses and counseling in certain special contexts, including counseling about settlement, counseling through the writing of opinion letters, counseling the client as a deponent, and counseling the criminal defendant.

The new edition of the book adds sections addressing counseling about mediation, counseling about transactional matters, and the role of emotional intelligence.

There is a set of 100 PowerPoint slides available upon adoption. Click here to view a sample presentation. If you are a professor using this book for a class, please contact Rachael Meier at remeier@cap-press.com to request your slides.