Practical Legal Skills.

Half Title -- Title -- Imprint -- Contents -- Extended Contents -- List of Exercises -- Preface to the Fourth Edition -- Preface to the Fifth Edition -- Acknowledgements -- 1 INTRODUCTION -- The role of skills teaching in legal education -- Content and method -- The limitations of practical legal training -- Enjoying law school -- Skills and values -- Why values? -- The myth of skills without values -- Skills teaching: The distinction between ethical content and process -- Teacher and mentor values -- Good ethics does not mean being squeamish -- Incorporating the exercises into substantive law subjects -- How to organise the exercises -- Learning with this book -- A word about role-playing -- Further resources -- Books -- Articles/papers -- 2 INTERVIEWING: LISTENING AND QUESTIONING -- Introduction -- The structure of an interview -- Your client's perspective -- Meeting, greeting, and introducing -- The three-stage process of interviewing -- The first stage: Listening -- Empathy and sympathy -- Angry, distressed, and challenging clients -- Inconsistencies in your client's problem -- The second stage: Questioning -- Open and closed questioning: The 'funnel' sequence -- Making notes -- Instruction sheets -- Interpreters and cultural issues -- Summarising the facts -- Putting it all together -- Ethical dangers in interviewing -- Commercial clients -- Reluctance -- Deception and dishonesty -- Unreasonable instructions -- Conclusion -- Further resources -- Books -- Articles/chapters -- 3 INTERVIEWING: ADVISING -- Introduction -- Summarising the facts -- Investigating the facts and the law -- Giving advice -- What is the lawyer's role? -- Options and consequences -- Techniques for arriving at decisions -- The participatory process -- Consideration of all relevant factors -- Comparing agendas: Yours and your client's -- What happens next?.

Barriers to communication -- Language level -- Culture -- Professional rules and ethical considerations -- How far can you assist clients in their objectives? -- What about your own value system? -- Conclusion -- Further resources -- Books -- Articles -- 4 KEEPING OUT OF TROUBLE -- Introduction -- What kinds of ethical problems can arise? -- How to analyse an ethical problem -- Common ethical problem areas -- Dealing with online security -- Protecting client information against email hacks -- Wi-Fi and email in 'public' spaces -- Cloud computing and remote backup -- Social media -- Conclusion -- Further resources -- Books -- Internet resources -- 5 WRITING AND DRAFTING -- Introduction -- Communication in writing: Why is it different? -- Emails and other electronic communication methods -- Document retention -- Essential preliminaries -- Who is your audience? -- Why are you writing? -- Ethical issues in letter writing -- How to produce good 'plain English' -- Words and sentences -- Words: Do not use legalese -- Do not use unnecessary words -- Use everyday words -- Use the active voice -- The ambiguity of 'shall' -- Sentence structure -- Word order -- Use short sentences -- Structuring a letter -- Format -- The reference -- The addressee -- The heading -- Plural or singular -- Content -- Opening line -- Get to the point -- Organise the content -- Break up paragraphs -- Closing line -- 'Yours faithfully' -- 'Without prejudice' -- Reports, memoranda, and other in-house documents -- Drafting legal documents -- Structuring documents -- Using precedents -- Special requirements for particular documents -- Preliminary steps in drafting a contract -- Pleadings -- Conclusion -- Further resources -- Books -- Articles -- 6 NEGOTIATION AND MEDIATION -- Introduction -- Negotiating -- The objective -- Positional bargaining -- Principled negotiation.

1 Separate the relationship from the substance -- 2 Make communication a two-way process -- 3 Focus on interests, not positions -- 4 Develop options by separating inventing from deciding -- 5 Use objective standards to both persuade and enquire -- 6 Improve your alternatives and learn more about theirs -- 7 Clarify process commitments early and reality-test substantive commitments -- Your goals and your client's goals -- Obtaining your client's instructions -- Clarity -- Written instructions when necessary -- Preparation and planning -- Know the facts and the law -- Strengths and weaknesses -- Ethical difficulties -- The process of negotiation -- Fundamental rules -- Use of 'without prejudice' -- Correspondence -- Tactics and intimidation: How to negotiate ethically with a 'dirty' negotiator -- Offers and counter-offers -- After the negotiation -- Mediation -- Definition of 'mediation' -- Stages in mediation -- Beginning the mediation -- Defining the issues and setting an agenda -- Identifying the interests of the parties -- Generating options for settlement -- Assessing settlement options -- Final bargaining -- Formalising the agreement -- The lawyer's role -- Before mediation -- During mediation -- At the conclusion of mediation -- Collaborative law -- Conclusion -- Further resources -- Books -- Articles -- Other resources -- 7 ADVOCACY -- Introduction -- The objective of advocacy -- Advocacy in 'solution-focused' or 'problem-solving' courts -- The importance of preparation -- Ethical advocacy -- Mainstream Magistrates/Local Court: Pleas in mitigation -- Select facts -- Select language -- Choose your opening line -- Organise the facts -- Deal with weaknesses in the case -- Select a penalty -- Prepare notes for the hearing -- Presentation -- Court etiquette -- Style -- Adapting to the magistrate -- Maintaining eye contact -- Being flexible.

Federal Circuit Court of Australia: Application to dispense with service -- The law -- Advocacy in the Federal Circuit Court -- Preparation -- 1 Select and organise the facts -- 2 Select language: The opening line -- 3 Deal with weaknesses in the case -- 4 Select a 'penalty' -- 5 Prepare notes -- Presentation -- Supreme Court: Interlocutory applications -- Conclusion -- Further resources -- Books -- Articles -- Index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2023. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.