Overview of Legal Research
Assignment 3: Overview of Legal Research. It is widely known that paralegals serve many functions, which include but are not limited to performing investigation, handling pleadings, and conducting discovery. Imagine that a senior partner has assigned your supervising attorney to litigate a personal injury case, and your supervising attorney has asked you to help her prepare. In preparation for trial, complete the following tasks. Write a five to six (5-6) page paper in which you: Outline a detailed three (3) step system for interviewing a client. Explain the purpose of each step within your system. Draft five (5) questions that, as a paralegal, you would ask prior to beginning an interview with a client. Identify the primary purpose of each question. Develop ten (10) interrogatories, and describe the primary information that you are attempting to elicit from the opposing counsel’s client. Explain the importance of using interrogatories for a personal injury case. Identify two (2) ways in which your supervising attorney could use the opposing party’s responses to further her case. Provide a rationale for your response. Appropriately incorporate at least (3) quality sources. A quality source can be either popular, such as a news article, or scholarly, such as peer reviewed works. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as quality resources. Visit the Strayer University Library at http://research.strayer.edu to conduct research. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: This course requires use of new Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow SWS or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are: Research information using primary and secondary sources. Use technology and information resources to research issues in legal research and writing. Write clearly and concisely about legal research and writing using proper writing mechanics.
Conducting interviews is a thorough paralegal process that involves interviewing the relevant witnesses in a legal matter. Legal Helpants are required to research and compile the pertinent information that extends to the lawyer schedules and expert witnesses to complete the paralegal process. The paralegal process entails steps that must be followed in order to sufficiently conduct the interviews. The interview process is more than sitting down with a client; instead, it is a learned skill that requires planning and practice. The client’s interview commences with the attorney and then the client is passed on to a paralegal for more questioning. The first interview is known as the intake interview and when the client is turned over to a paralegal it becomes a follow-up interview. The first interview is done by the client to seek solutions on behalf of the client as well as gathering the sufficient information required. The follow-up interviews ensure that the matter is pursued in different and further ways. The paralegal has the responsibility to make the client feel comfortable to reveal the required information (Rasmussen, 2009). Some of the questions asked are personal thus the client must be comfortable to reveal the information to the stranger who is a paralegal. Also, the paralegal must know which questions to ask and how to ask the questions to build an atmosphere of trust and rapport.
The initial interview of a client is conducted by an attorney but it requires a mandatory attendance of the paralegal. In this stage, the paralegal indicates the non-attorney status to the client. In this stage, the paralegal responsibly is documenting the results of the session which is followed subsequent interviews sessions that require steps to be accomplished (Croft,2015). The first step of the subsequent interviews to prepares for the client’s interview through having the required documents thus ensuring easiness during the interview. By setting up the location, time and date of the interview the paralegal can confirm the appointment with the client. Confirming the interview allows the paralegal to request the required documents to form the client. For instance, the paralegal can enclose a list of the required information such as an exhibit list that is significant in developing the case (Spencer, 2014). The information gathered is then reviewed for the formulation of questions that will make a list to prepare for the interview. However, in this stage, the paralegal is required to consult the attorney on the important items to cover during the interview. Also, it is the attorney’s role to confirm whether the interviews should be recorded or not but the client has the final say whether he or she is in consent with the act. After gathering all the required information, the paralegal is required to develop sets of questions that formulates the interview and gathers the required information. In this case, the interview form will be on personal injury thus the form created should be used to guide the interview. The final stages of these steps include creating a checklist for the client and getting the forms ready for the client’s signature.
The second step if handling the client’s interview which is considered as one of the most difficult steps because the paralegal is required to create a relationship with the client. This delicate area can be handled by a proper introduction to the client. The attorney and the paralegal should work on an introduction arrangement that will provide clarity for the client thus ensuring an effective interview. The next move is to establish rapport and trust for client cooperation through respecting the client’s confidences. The paralegal can be friendly and courteous while conversing in a businesslike manner. Research shows that maintaining a cooperative and positive attitude towards the client begets the same.
Conducting the interviews involves explaining the purpose of the interview and stating what is expected of the client. The client should understand the purpose of the interview is to record information and requires factual responses. After extracting the pertinent facts the paralegal is required to ask questions based on the information that the client gives up. The questions directed to the client should not be ambiguous but concise and basic .the paralegal must take meticulous notes during the interview. At the conclusion of the interview, the necessary documents that the client pertains as tangible evidence should be gathered for the preparation of the following steps in the legal process.
The subsequent client interview is followed by an informal interview that is only handled by the paralegal as well. Basing on the information gathered in the initial and subsequent interviews, the paralegal is allowed to explain the trial procedures to the client to clarify the purpose of the proceedings to the client. After the interview, it is the responsibility of a paralegal to summarize the interview for the conclusion and record it in a written memorandum (Spencer,2014). The end of the interview must ensure that the client is presented with forms to be signed alongside outlining the necessary direction to be taken.
Before beginning the interview with a client I will ask about the personal information of the client such as address and contact details as well as the employment status. Such details will establish the nature of the client thus offering the necessary identification of the client (Smith, 2015). The personal information section will also cater to the marital status, children status and educational background of the client. Such information offers solid information to utilize when preparing for an interview with the client.The next section of question will be on the description of the incident. I will ask questions like the time and date of the incident the client is claiming hence understanding the occurrence of the personal injury. I will also ask for the location to understand the circumstances of the injury. The other significant question that I will ask the client is the police action taken towards the incident. The question will provide a broader understanding of the legal processes that have been involved so far (Croft,2015). I will also ask the actions of the client after the incident for instance if the client went to the hospital after the incident. The action taken after the accident determines the seriousness of the injuries. Also, I will dictate if the injuries were minor or major. The final question will require the client to describe the incident in their own words and how it affected them emotionally and mentally. The question will be aimed at capturing the perception of the client in the outlined case. Besides, the question will enable the client to outline other descriptions and occurrences of the accident that might have been missed during the earlier questions (Smith,2015).
Interrogatories to the defendant
1. Outline the personal information including the job titles, name, addresses, and employment status of the individual that is providing the verification and signing the presented interrogatories.
2. Please describe the description of the accident, the components affected article number and date of issuance if available.
3. Outline the names and contact information of each individual involved in the accident contributed to medical bills or was in sight during the ordeal.
4. Please outline the nature of the injury and the automobiles involved
5. Outline the factual information relied upon by witnesses regarding the accident
6. Please identify the expert individuals that you anticipate contacting as witnesses during the trial.
7. Describe the physical nature of the plaintiff before the injury
8. Please describe the nature of the automobile involved that is if it had any defect prior to the accident.
9. Outline the resume of the involved witnesses stating their education and current employment status.
10. Please describe the automobile identified by the plaintiff in its specifications including the type of wheel drive, model name, and transmission type and engine size.
Interrogatories are significant in a personal injury case because the information gathered are discovery tools in the lawsuit phases. The information obtained pertain a set of instructions that define the specific frameworks of the interrogatories. Therefore it is essentials to ask questions that lead to the admissible evidence. Interrogatories present questions to be answered by both the defendant and plaintiffs (Smith,2015). The responses are considered as the key parts of the case because it is the section that all the responses from both the parties can be considered an admission. The supervising attorney can use the responses to further the case through the admissions thus he or she can read the information the jury in an open court. The supervising attorney can also use the information gathered to continue with the discovery phase of the case such as the deposition phase where the involved party can be confronted with the answers for further question.
References
Smith Jr, W. (2015). Form Interrogatories in Personal Injury Actions. Ins. Counsel J., 32, 453.
Rasmussen, J. M.. (2009). Paralegals: Changing the Practice of Law. SDL Rev., 44, 319.
Spencer, J. W. (2014). Conducting presentencing investigations: From discourse to textual summaries. Urban Life, 13(2), 207-227.
Croft, B. (2015). The Informational Interview. From discourse to textual summaries.