Meeting clients

Interaction: listening and note taking

This element covers the importance of

listening and note taking, how to do so effectively
and some practical considerations in the context
of legal interviews.
Interaction: listening and
Overview
note taking

In this element you will:

• Consider the importance of listening and note taking in a client meeting
• Explore how best to listen and take notes in a client meeting
Taking notes
It is important that you make notes of the important instructions your client gives you, however, you
must be mindful at all times that this does not affect the rapport that you have developed, and are
developing, with the client.
You will have developed your own means of taking notes throughout your studies and any work or
work experience thus far and you should continue to develop this skill alongside your ability to
interview a client. There is no set structure or format to the notes that are expected but you want to
aim to take sufficient notes that you can accurately recall instructions given and information elicited
from the client as you will need this detailed record as the case develops. It will be helpful to
develop your own form of short hand which you can rely upon.
Taking notes
Taking notes during a legal interview has three primary purposes:

1. It enables you to consolidate, amend and add to the notes you will have made prior to the
attending the legal interview so that you are able to focus your advice on the specific information
that you have elicited from the client.
2. Taking notes serves as a useful memory-jogger of the main or important points that have arisen
during the course of the legal interview that you may wish to raise during the course of any
subsequent court hearing, discussions with the opposition or which may need to be taken into
account when drafting pleadings, witness statements or communications.
3. Talking notes acts as a non-verbal indicator to your client that you are taking his or her matter
seriously and that you are taking on board the points that have been raised by the client. It assists
in establishing confidence between you and the client because it is abundantly clear that you are
treating their comments as important.
Taking notes
Whilst the taking of notes can be an excellent confidence builder with a client you need to be mindful
that if you spend all of you time taking notes at the expense of establishing good eye-contact and
building up a rapport by your own non-verbal communication it can have the opposite effect. A few
tips will help with this:

1. Tell the client at the outset - Explain to the client in the introduction to the interview that you will
be taking notes and why you are doing so (e.g. Because their instructions are important, and you
want to record them as accurately as possible).
2. Slow it down – At times it can become easy once a client starts recalling an incident for their
answers to become longer and longer and it can become challenging to take an accurate note
and to keep up with them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with politely asking them to slow
down or to pause so that you can take an accurate note. Don’t be rude, or raise your voice, but a
gentle raise of your non-writing hand and something along the lines of “can I please just ask you
to pause there whilst I take a note”, before asking the client to continue once you’ve caught up will
work to great effect.
Taking notes
3. Listen first, note second
You don’t need to note down everything said by the client and you shouldn’t try to do so. It is always
wise to adopt a ‘listen first, note second’ approach in the interview, which means that first and
foremost you should be listening to and processing the instructions the client is giving you. Having
done so you can then work through the following steps to keep your note taking as efficient as
possible:
i. Listen to what the client says
ii. Consider what they mean and whether it is relevant
iii. If it is, take a note of it in note form
iv. Keep your notes clear, use abbreviations where appropriate
v. At times you may need or want a verbatim record of what the client has to say in respect
of some issues, but for much of the interview, a summary of their account will be
sufficient.
Listening
There is little point in posing questions to your client if you do not LISTEN to the answers that your
client gives.
Your client will have no faith in your ability to represent him or her if the advice that you give clearly
ignores or fails to pick up on any issues that have been specifically raised during questioning.
In a similar vein, if the client is spending time and often considerable effort divulging what at times
can be particularly sensitive or personal information and they get the impression (rightly or wrongly)
that you are not listening to them, they will clam up almost instantly and you will have to work
extremely hard indeed to get them to open back up to you.
Listening – give the client the opportunity to speak

• In a legal interview there is little to be gained • The legal interview is a conversation between
from simply reeling off a list of pre-prepared two parties so don’t feel like you need to jump in
questions followed by your advice if your advice immediately to counter the silence or gaps in
then fails to take on board the answers given by conversation, because this is likely to result in
the client to the questions posed. To that end, it the client feeling dismissed or talked over.
is good practice to pause after posing a question Instead, give the client ample opportunity to
to allow your client time and space to consider answer and if they appear to be struggling, offer
their answer and provide it. Silence doesn’t to phrase the question differently or talk them
always indicate that they have nothing to say or through what you mean or are trying to elicit.
ignorance of the question itself, but can be Ultimately, the onus is on you as the lawyer to
indicative of someone trying to recall an event of ensure that the client understands the questions
some age or complexity, or even considering asked and advice given, so take care in
something from an alternative angle for the first ensuring that this is the case.
time.
Listening – “Parking”
• You will quickly observe how a single sentence • The solution at all stages is to listen. Having
from your client can change the entire outlook of heard the comment(s) you may well choose to
the case, and sometimes if you miss this simply follow it up with questions there and then,
sentence it can quite easily lead to a situation in which case please proceed to do so, if you do
where the advice you plan to give is wholly this, however, make a note of where you were
incorrect as a result. In a legal interview with a when you made this departure from your
client the important nuggets of information don’t planned questioning so that you can return
always come pre-packaged and labeled as without missing anything in due course. If it is
such. Indeed often they won’t even come in your intention to put the point raised to one side
response to the related questions you’ve just (known as “parking”) and to deal with it later, this
asked on the particular subject, and in the is perfectly appropriate, but make it clear to the
absence of a concerted effort to listen intently client that this is what you are doing, else they
they can be easily missed. By being structured might think you are simply ignoring them. You
and prepared in your questioning you can can do this by for instance saying “if you don’t
mitigate the chances of this occurring, but you mind we will return to X in a few moments as it
must remain on the lookout for relevant facts relates to something I will be asking you about in
throughout the interview. due course”, or words to that effect.
Listening – The perils of “parking”
When you are considering “parking” an answer or piece of information given by a client please do
consider the following before you go ahead and do so. It is a balance and there is no set formula to
when you should and should not park something, so it is a technique that will become easier and
more instinctive the more you practice:
1. The issue raised by the client may well be one that is of particular importance to them, or it may
be something that is particularly sensitive or personal in which case it will clearly have taken a lot
for the client to muster up the ability to even mention it. It may well in situations such as this be
beneficial to the client-lawyer relationship, and the effectiveness of the legal interview as a whole
if the matter is dealt with straightaway, thereby allaying any fears or concerns the client might
have had on that particular issue.
2. If you park something, there is always the risk that you will forget about it, or not have the time to
return to it in time deal with it adequately later in the interview. This clearly could have disastrous
consequences later on in the development of the case as a whole or on the accuracy of the
advice and so it is an important factor to bear in mind. If you do choose to park something to
return to later, ensure you pause and make an appropriate note to do so before returning to your
line of questioning in order to make it less likely that this occurs
Listening – Active listening and demonstrating this
to the client
We have covered a lot about the importance of listening, but this really is only half of the battle. As we
touched on earlier, it is imperative not just that you are actively listening, but it is of equal importance
that you client understands this as well. There are a number of ways you can achieve this:
1. Using appropriate “non-verbal” methods of communication (e.g. head nodding, eye contact)
2. By taking thorough notes of what the client is saying.
3. By demonstrating verbally to the client that you have heard and taken on board their comments
by either:
a) Clarifying their instructions (e.g. “so, to clarify, you say that you purchased the property jointly
in 2010 for a purchase price of £210,000”)
b) Asking appropriate probing questions to elicit further points of detail from the information
provided (e.g. “you say the claimant was using a phone whilst driving, are you able to clarify
for how long you observed him on the phone?”)
A combination of these methods should leave the client confident and content that you are listening to
them and giving their comments the attention they deserve.
Listening – Prompting, not interrupting
• It is important that you retain control over the If you deem it necessary to do so then you
direction of the legal interview and the should do just this. Whilst many junior lawyers
information which is being provided by the client. are reluctant to be seen to interrupt their clients,
It is ultimately up to you as the lawyer to illicit the you are only doing your client a disservice by
further information you require from the client allowing them to continue with matters that are
and this is done by prompting the client as to the irrelevant, where your professional judgment is
areas of the case where you require further that you need to stop them in order to ask some
clarification or information. further questions or where they are speaking at
such a speed that you are missing important
• There will naturally be occasions where it is
points of detail.
appropriate and indeed necessary to interrupt
your client. Examples will include where they are • The key is to do so politely and courteously. If
rambling on with a lengthy story, straying into too you need to pause the client and take them back
many irrelevant matters or where they are to a relevant point of their account a direction
speaking too quickly for you to keep up. In such such as “can I please just stop you there and
situations don’t be afraid of stopping your client take you back to X…” is perfectly clear, polite
and taking them back to a relevant piece of and direct and will achieve your desired aim.
information in order to probe it for further detail.
Listening – Prompting, not interrupting
• Whilst it is perfectly proper to pause your client perhaps to double check or probe a point that
on occasion, be mindful of the fact that the the client has just made, and interrupting the
danger you run if you interrupt them too often client to the extent that he or she becomes
when he or she is trying to provide you with annoyed and feels hindered in their attempts to
information, is that you interrupt your client’s flow tell their story in their own words.
of thought. Human beings naturally recall events
• A linked matter is an approach adopted by some
better in sequence than in isolation and so
in asking the client to restrict their answers to a
interrupting them too often may lead to you
simple yes or no. We would discourage you from
missing some information as a result. With this
adopting such an approach as it unnecessarily
in mind, rather than forever interrupting your
limits the information you can extract from the
client’s flow of though, you may wish to make a
client, as well as limiting the client’s involvement
note to remind yourself that you will need to
in the interview, which in turn can lead to
return on a specific point to get more detail later.
resentment, annoyance and disengagement and
• This is clearly a fine line to tread here between negatively impacting on the trust and confidence
interrupting a client when it is appropriate to do, between the two of you.
 Video
example:
moving a
client on
Interaction: listening and
Summary
note taking

• Note taking in a client meeting is essential for future reference and demonstrates
your attention to the client
• You can ask the client to pause whilst you take a note if necessary on occasion,
but to ensure the flow of a conference you need to develop the skills of note taking
whilst listening and an effective short-hand to facilitate quick note taking
• Make sure you let the client speak and you take time to listen to their account
• Listen actively so that you respond to the client in your manner and structure
• Where the client's account requires follow up questioning from you that you had
not planned note down where you depart from your planed structure so you can
return there afterwards or 'park' the issue at that stage and ensue you return later
• Interrupt or move on a client politely if you need to