4.3: Introduction to Conducting Interviews

Paralegals frequently interview clients and witnesses. After the initial intake process has been completed and the attorney has decided to take on the client’s legal matter, the first step usually is to conduct an in-depth interview of the client to help clarify what the client wants from the legal representation and collect the information needed to accomplish the client’s goals. Depending on the nature of the legal matter, additional interviews may be needed. Developing interviewing skills and understanding how to employ varied techniques in specific situations is an important part of paralegal education.

Interviewing Skills

Regardless of the purpose of the interview or the identity of the interviewee (the person being interviewed), the same basic interpersonal and questioning skills apply. Most interviewees will have little if any, experience with the legal system; those with experience may have had negative experiences. Although your primary purpose in conducting the interview is to obtain needed information from the interviewee, an equally important purpose is to gain the interviewee’s trust and confidence in you as a professional.

Interpersonal Skills

With both clients and witnesses, you want to demonstrate acute sensitivity toward the interviewee’s feelings and experiences which may be embarrassing, frustrating, or anger-provoking. Simple things like budgeting enough time for the interview (most often an hour or more), creating a comfortable and safe environment for the interview, and acknowledging the interviewee’s feelings throughout the interview go a long way toward fostering a successful interview.

During the interview, it’s critical to maintain your objectivity and remain neutral at all times. This means keeping your emotions and biases – both positive and negative – in check. You will learn a lot about the client and/or witness you are interviewing, and it would be expected that you might disagree with their actions or find them unsavory. You might naturally have opinions about their truthfulness or the merit of their claims. Nevertheless, the need to uncover and objectively evaluate all of the information to be obtained during an interview demands the ability to set aside and mask your emotions and biases as much as possible during the interview.

Questioning Skills

As mentioned previously, in addition to interviewing clients, you will be asked to interview witnesses, or persons having information directly or indirectly related to the client’s legal matter, but who are not parties to the legal matter. There are several different types of witnesses, with each type presenting unique challenges requiring different questioning techniques.

Lay witnesses are “ordinary” people with no specialized training, experience, or knowledge who can provide information about a fact or document relating to the client’s legal matter. They could be the client’s coworkers, friends, or acquaintances. They could be employees, customers, vendors, or others with a business relationship to the client. Their knowledge relating to the client matter is based on everyday occurrences and interactions.

• Potential challenge: tendency to provide information that may be irrelevant
• Potential challenge: willingness to talk about matters outside their actual knowledge or actual perception of an event or circumstance (making assumptions)
• Potential challenge: temptation to offer opinions beyond their area of expertise

Eyewitnesses are lay witnesses who saw, heard, or otherwise experienced a specific event firsthand. For example, if the client’s legal matter involves an automobile accident, these would be witnesses who saw or heard the crash and its aftermath.

• Potential challenge: similar to lay witnesses, above
• Potential challenge: tendency to make logical, but false/inaccurate, assumptions about an event they witnessed. For example, an eyewitness who arrived at the scene of a motorcycle accident after the impact notices that the motorcyclist lying in the road does not have a helmet on his/her head says that the motorcyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet when the accident happened. This may be a logical assumption, but the witness, who did not see the accident happen, can’t verify that fact. It is equally possible that the helmet was dislodged from the motorcyclist’s head by the impact.

Expert witnesses are people who are qualified to give professional opinions regarding a topic related to the client’s legal matter because they have specialized training, education, experience, or knowledge specific to that topic. An expert witness does not need to have a degree or other scholarly credentials. An experienced auto mechanic or a licensed electrician can qualify as an expert in their field of work. Because qualification as an expert is limited to the person’s field of work or study, it is important to establish the basis for their expertise during the interview by gathering information relating to their training, knowledge, and experience. It is also important to remember that a person’s qualification as an expert in one context does not make that person an expert in all topics. For example, an orthopedic surgeon qualifies as an expert in orthopedic surgery, but not as a financial expert; similarly, a podiatrist qualifies as an expert in the human foot, but not for matters involving the human brain.

• Potential challenge: use of terminology or professional jargon that is unfamiliar to you as the interviewer.
• Potential challenge: overly technical explanations of their opinions, or the bases for their opinions
• Potential challenge: may lack – or be unwilling to spend – the time necessary for you as the interviewer to obtain a complete understanding of the topic and/or the expert’s opinion. As a corollary, expert witnesses often charge substantial fees for their expertise; you as an interviewer must be conscious of this cost and very efficient in the interview.

Friendly witnesses are any of the above types of witnesses who are biased against the client’s adversary or sympathetic toward the client. Friendly witnesses also might be people who have a “stake” or an interest (financial or otherwise) in making sure the client is successful.

• Potential challenge: tendency to be “overly helpful” or worse, to provide information that they think the interviewer wants to hear but is not entirely true or accurate.
• Potential challenge: inclination to omit information that they think would be harmful to the client or helpful to the adversary

Hostile witnesses are any of the above types of witnesses who are biased against the client or sympathetic toward the client’s adversary. Hostile witnesses also might be people who have a “stake” or an interest (financial or otherwise) in making sure the client is unsuccessful.

• Potential challenge: refusal to be interviewed or worse, tendency to be uncooperative during the interview. This can take the form of no-shows, one-word answers that force you as the interviewer to draw out information, or combative or threatening behavior.
• Potential challenge: inclination to omit information that they think would be helpful to the client or harmful to the adversary
• Potential challenge: may attempt to “highjack” the interview to obtain from you that may be confidential or damaging to the client

If at any point you feel uncomfortable or unsafe during an interview, you should immediately (and professionally) pause or stop the interview and inform your supervising attorney. Sometimes a momentary break is all that is needed to diffuse and reset the situation. Other times it may be necessary to bring your supervising attorney into the interview to address problematic behavior. Thorough preparation – including background checks and investigations of witnesses prior to the interview – is crucial. Having a plan for responding to challenging situations will help you handle them when and if they arise.

Questioning Techniques

In the absence of a safety issue, many of the challenges noted above can be addressed or diffused by using good questioning techniques in addition to thorough preparation. The table below describes the different types of interview questions and when you might want to use them.

Types of Interview Questions

Elements	Open-Ended Question	Closed-Ended Question	Leading Question	Hypothetical Question
Description	A broad, exploratory question that invites a narrative response	A question that requires or limits the response to a “yes” or “no” answer	A question that suggests (or leads the person to) the desired answer (typically “yes”)	A question that asks the person to assume certain facts or imagine a scenario when answering
Example	Describe your dinner at the restaurant before the accident. What did you eat, drink, and talk about?	Did you consume any alcohol while you were at the restaurant before the accident?	You consumed at least three martinis while you were at the restaurant before the accident, correct?	If a 120-pound woman drank three martinis in two hours, how long would it take before the alcohol was out of her system so that it would not affect her ability to drive?
Typical use	Gather information, explore background or experience, typically with clients or lay/eyewitnesses who are not hostile	Clarify or confirm information already provided. Keep the interview on track or redirect a talkative witness. May help draw out information from a reluctant or hostile witness	Draw out information from a reluctant or hostile witness.	Seek information and opinions from expert witnesses
Why they work well	Tend to put the interviewee at ease Encourage the interviewee to elaborate Allows the interviewee to express feelings in addition to providing facts	Helpful when you have a limited amount of time to gather important information A ”polite” way to pin a reluctant interviewee down to a needed “yes” or “no” answer	Rarely used in interviews; however, can be a helpful way to confirm the accuracy of information received	Encourages the interviewee to elaborate while providing information especially pertinent to the client’s legal matter

The Human Factor

All of these skills are meaningless if you fail to treat the interviewee as a human being deserving of dignity and respect. Some things to consider any time you interview someone:

• Use empathy. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines empathy as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously [or indirectly] experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another ….” Think about what you would be feeling if you were the interviewee. Be compassionate and acknowledge their feelings – even the uncomfortable ones. Empathy is sometimes described as “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.”
• Exercise sensitivity. Asking interviewees how they would prefer you address them (by first name, last name, professional title, etc.) and then implementing that preference is part of sensitivity. Being aware of cultural, ethnic, racial, or gender differences in communication style is also critical. For example, some gestures are completely acceptable in the United States, but highly offensive in other cultures. Direct eye contact can be seen as rude in some cultures. If you do inadvertently offend the interviewee, apologize quickly, gracefully, and professionally without making excuses or minimizing the offense.
• Avoid stereotyping. Stereotypes can be based on a variety of attributes or circumstances, including culture, race, ethnicity, gender, educational background, marital status, and employment status/field. Regardless of the source, do not treat interviewees on the basis of any stereotypes. Be especially careful not to come across as condescending (I’m better than you) or patronizing (you aren’t very smart and/or important).

At all times, remember that you are a representative of the lawyer, law office, or legal department. Always be professional, courteous, and respectful.