The Counselor-at-Law: A Collaborative Approach to Client Interviewing and Counseling

It can be. This book explores various methods for a lawyer to interview a client. This is an extremely informative book explaining various models of interviewing and includes sections on cultural differences and the effect of a lawyer's morals on his clients. This book is at its best when it uses clear, well told examples of real world implications. The most effective story is that of a man named Johnson who had entirely different goals than what the lawyer perceived, and ultimately resulted in poor representation. This book fails, in some cases to effectively demonstrate the point the authors are trying to make. There are a few situations where they should have paraphased accounts, rather than directly quoting them. They also do not make sufficent attempts to point out weaknesses in their preferred approach to client interviewing, and neglect to mention situations where the other models may be better suited to the situation. Overall, however, this book contains many key tips to getting the client to open up, and ensure that the lawyer is hearing the whole story, and not narrowly focused on the implications that the lawyer finds most important. If you are an attorney or a future attorney who plans on having interactions with clients, or are finding that your interactions with clients are not as fruitful as you think they should be, this is the book to take a look at.