Pa203 Unit 9 Criminal Investigation
LaKisha Overton
PA203: Interviewing and Investigating
Professor Cheryl Olsen
Unit 8 Assignment
Final Project
June 11, 2014
1. Describe the difference(s) between a witness and a client. Then describe differences between interviewing a client-witness and interviewing a nonclient-witness.
Clients and Witnesses are key factors in a legal cause. However the roles they play and how the legal team deals with them during the overall case, are drastically different.
Clients are coming to an attorney regarding further assistance with their legal issue. The purpose of meeting with the client initially are to gain as many details possible about their legal matter. A client check off list will assist the paralegal as a guide while meeting with the client. At the initial client meeting, it would be helpful for the paralegal to get the following information:
1. Obtain the clients story in detail.
2. Evaluate the truths of the client’s story. (Is this a viable case?)
3. Get contact information for any potential witnesses or anyone that has more information that can help the case. …show more content…
4. Compile any possible evidence the client already has that could possibly help the case.
Expert witnesses are also vital to the credibility of the client’s case. An expert witness provides specific testimony related to their expertise in areas such as analyzing tire skid marks or the effects of prescription drug abuse. For example when interviewing an expert witness, it’s important to know and understand what area the expert should be highly knowledgeable of; different from interviewing a client. Expert witnesses are screened using an expert witness screening form; not interviewed like a client. While screening an expert witness the paralegal is looking for knowledge, credibility and the ability to communicate well with others, such as jurors. For clients, the paralegal is gathering information for the case and not necessarily screening for expertise of their legal action.
2. Describe the duties of a paralegal in the following situation: A potential new client makes an appointment to see your supervising attorney. Because you did a conflict check prior to the new client 's arrival, you have learned that she is actually the defendant in your current suit. The attorney asks you to conduct an interview of this potential new client, get as much information as possible, and then bring the attorney the notes. Thereafter, the attorney wants you to go back in and tell the potential client that your firm cannot represent her because you have already been retained by the other side in the case. What are your ethical responsibilities in this situation? List at least four. What are your options? Be sure to identify the specific ethics rule(s) that the attorney’s request would violate and apply the rules to this fact pattern. Include a citation to the rule and the text of the rule as well as any applicable subsections in quotations.
In this situation many things should have started differently in order to prevent any ethical violations.
The duty of the paralegal was only to do a prior conflict check and make the supervising attorney aware of the conflict prior to the interview. It’s the supervising attorney’s responsibility to obtain basic facts about the case and provide the paralegal with the basic information about the client. When the supervising attorney became aware of the conflict, it was his responsibility to make the client aware and let them know he’s unable to represent them because of her being a defendant in another suit. The attorney is wrong for trying to illegally gain information from the client first to help his case. If the paralegal decided to proceed with the supervising attorney’s request, she would violate the following according to NALA Code of Ethics and Professional
Responsibility: Canon 1.
A paralegal must not perform any of the duties that attorneys only may perform nor take any actions that attorneys may not take. (If the paralegal chose to complete the task it would be a violation of NALA Code 3(c) )
Canon 3.
A paralegal must not: (a) engage in, encourage, or contribute to any act which could constitute the unauthorized practice of law; and (b) establish attorney-client relationships, set fees, give legal opinions or advice or represent a client before a court or agency unless so authorized by that court or agency; and (c) engage in conduct or take any action which would assist or involve the attorney in a violation of professional ethics or give the appearance of professional impropriety. (If the paralegal decided to go back to the client and discuss legal matters with the client as if the firm was going to represent her, that would be a huge conduct issue. The attorney is asking the paralegal to be involved with impropriety, lying to the client to get information to help win the case she’s a defendant in.)
Canon 5.
A paralegal must disclose his or her status as a paralegal at the outset of any professional relationship with a client, attorney, a court or administrative agency or personnel thereof, or a member of the general public. A paralegal must act prudently in determining the extent to which a client may be assisted without the presence of an attorney. (At the start of the interview it’s the paralegals duty to disclose that she’s not an attorney and unable to provide legal advice. However she’s able to share with the client she needs to cancel their interview in order to double check some information with the supervising attorney, and the attorney will be in contact with her regarding rescheduling the meeting. )
Canon 9.
A paralegal must do all other things incidental, necessary, or expedient for the attainment of the ethics and responsibilities as defined by statute or rule of court. (It’s the paralegal’s duty after briefly meeting with the client to meet with the supervising attorney as soon as possible. The paralegal needs to make the supervising attorney aware of the extent of the ethics and code of conduct violations that will happen if she proceeded with meeting with the client.)
3. You are asked by the attorney to canvass the neighborhood in a dog bite case. The dog has bitten your five-year-old client who was playing in his front yard. The boy said that the dog was large, brown, and had a tag. What kinds of witnesses would you try to find and what would you ask them? Would you tell potential witnesses what you are investigating and why? What types of things do you want to find out from witnesses in the neighborhood?
While investigating this case; start with an investigative outline that will help with sticking to the legal issues, evaluate witness credibility, evaluate any current evidence, and create a chronological order of events that were already provided. Firstly the types of witnesses that would be sought out are: neighborhood dog walkers, dog owners, immediate or nearby neighbors, older children who are often outside playing (with their parents’ permission and present). It’s good to ask questions that will help with determining the credibility of their statements. Maybe the witness is a victim of a past dog bite or knows of another person that was bitten, but didn’t file a lawsuit. A potential witness identified by another witness could also be the dog owner.
While interviewing the potential witness, being very detailed with the questioning is very important. This allow the interviewer to gain potential information for the case that can be vital. Getting information such as names, addresses & phone numbers for anyone else in the neighborhood who may have knowledge about the incident is great information to find out from witnesses in the neighborhood. As well as asking some of the following questions are a good start to the investigation:
1. If the witness says that he or she saw the incident, Please tell me in detail exactly what you saw?
2. Did you see the parent of the child around when the incident happened?
3. Are you aware of anyone else who was nearby when the incident occurred?
4. Have you recently seen any dogs loose in the neighborhood? If yes, do you remember when or how long ago? What did it look like?
5. Have you ever seen any dog walking that matches the description of the dog?
6. Are you aware of anyone in the neighborhood that’s reported a dog missing?
7. Do you know of a child or an adult in the neighborhood that was bit or attacked recently? At any time since you’ve been living in the neighborhood?
References
Code of Ethics. (n.d.). Code of Ethics. Retrieved June 12, 2014, from http://www.nala.org/code.aspx Schroeder, C. B. (1999). 4,5,7. Civil interviewing and investigation: for paralegals (). Albany:
West Legal Studies.
PA203: Interviewing and Investigating
Professor Cheryl Olsen
Unit 8 Assignment
Final Project
June 11, 2014
1. Describe the difference(s) between a witness and a client. Then describe differences between interviewing a client-witness and interviewing a nonclient-witness.
Clients and Witnesses are key factors in a legal cause. However the roles they play and how the legal team deals with them during the overall case, are drastically different.
Clients are coming to an attorney regarding further assistance with their legal issue. The purpose of meeting with the client initially are to gain as many details possible about their legal matter. A client check off list will assist the paralegal as a guide while meeting with the client. At the initial client meeting, it would be helpful for the paralegal to get the following information:
1. Obtain the clients story in detail.
2. Evaluate the truths of the client’s story. (Is this a viable case?)
3. Get contact information for any potential witnesses or anyone that has more information that can help the case. …show more content…
4. Compile any possible evidence the client already has that could possibly help the case.
Expert witnesses are also vital to the credibility of the client’s case. An expert witness provides specific testimony related to their expertise in areas such as analyzing tire skid marks or the effects of prescription drug abuse. For example when interviewing an expert witness, it’s important to know and understand what area the expert should be highly knowledgeable of; different from interviewing a client. Expert witnesses are screened using an expert witness screening form; not interviewed like a client. While screening an expert witness the paralegal is looking for knowledge, credibility and the ability to communicate well with others, such as jurors. For clients, the paralegal is gathering information for the case and not necessarily screening for expertise of their legal action.
2. Describe the duties of a paralegal in the following situation: A potential new client makes an appointment to see your supervising attorney. Because you did a conflict check prior to the new client 's arrival, you have learned that she is actually the defendant in your current suit. The attorney asks you to conduct an interview of this potential new client, get as much information as possible, and then bring the attorney the notes. Thereafter, the attorney wants you to go back in and tell the potential client that your firm cannot represent her because you have already been retained by the other side in the case. What are your ethical responsibilities in this situation? List at least four. What are your options? Be sure to identify the specific ethics rule(s) that the attorney’s request would violate and apply the rules to this fact pattern. Include a citation to the rule and the text of the rule as well as any applicable subsections in quotations.
In this situation many things should have started differently in order to prevent any ethical violations.
The duty of the paralegal was only to do a prior conflict check and make the supervising attorney aware of the conflict prior to the interview. It’s the supervising attorney’s responsibility to obtain basic facts about the case and provide the paralegal with the basic information about the client. When the supervising attorney became aware of the conflict, it was his responsibility to make the client aware and let them know he’s unable to represent them because of her being a defendant in another suit. The attorney is wrong for trying to illegally gain information from the client first to help his case. If the paralegal decided to proceed with the supervising attorney’s request, she would violate the following according to NALA Code of Ethics and Professional
Responsibility: Canon 1.
A paralegal must not perform any of the duties that attorneys only may perform nor take any actions that attorneys may not take. (If the paralegal chose to complete the task it would be a violation of NALA Code 3(c) )
Canon 3.
A paralegal must not: (a) engage in, encourage, or contribute to any act which could constitute the unauthorized practice of law; and (b) establish attorney-client relationships, set fees, give legal opinions or advice or represent a client before a court or agency unless so authorized by that court or agency; and (c) engage in conduct or take any action which would assist or involve the attorney in a violation of professional ethics or give the appearance of professional impropriety. (If the paralegal decided to go back to the client and discuss legal matters with the client as if the firm was going to represent her, that would be a huge conduct issue. The attorney is asking the paralegal to be involved with impropriety, lying to the client to get information to help win the case she’s a defendant in.)
Canon 5.
A paralegal must disclose his or her status as a paralegal at the outset of any professional relationship with a client, attorney, a court or administrative agency or personnel thereof, or a member of the general public. A paralegal must act prudently in determining the extent to which a client may be assisted without the presence of an attorney. (At the start of the interview it’s the paralegals duty to disclose that she’s not an attorney and unable to provide legal advice. However she’s able to share with the client she needs to cancel their interview in order to double check some information with the supervising attorney, and the attorney will be in contact with her regarding rescheduling the meeting. )
Canon 9.
A paralegal must do all other things incidental, necessary, or expedient for the attainment of the ethics and responsibilities as defined by statute or rule of court. (It’s the paralegal’s duty after briefly meeting with the client to meet with the supervising attorney as soon as possible. The paralegal needs to make the supervising attorney aware of the extent of the ethics and code of conduct violations that will happen if she proceeded with meeting with the client.)
3. You are asked by the attorney to canvass the neighborhood in a dog bite case. The dog has bitten your five-year-old client who was playing in his front yard. The boy said that the dog was large, brown, and had a tag. What kinds of witnesses would you try to find and what would you ask them? Would you tell potential witnesses what you are investigating and why? What types of things do you want to find out from witnesses in the neighborhood?
While investigating this case; start with an investigative outline that will help with sticking to the legal issues, evaluate witness credibility, evaluate any current evidence, and create a chronological order of events that were already provided. Firstly the types of witnesses that would be sought out are: neighborhood dog walkers, dog owners, immediate or nearby neighbors, older children who are often outside playing (with their parents’ permission and present). It’s good to ask questions that will help with determining the credibility of their statements. Maybe the witness is a victim of a past dog bite or knows of another person that was bitten, but didn’t file a lawsuit. A potential witness identified by another witness could also be the dog owner.
While interviewing the potential witness, being very detailed with the questioning is very important. This allow the interviewer to gain potential information for the case that can be vital. Getting information such as names, addresses & phone numbers for anyone else in the neighborhood who may have knowledge about the incident is great information to find out from witnesses in the neighborhood. As well as asking some of the following questions are a good start to the investigation:
1. If the witness says that he or she saw the incident, Please tell me in detail exactly what you saw?
2. Did you see the parent of the child around when the incident happened?
3. Are you aware of anyone else who was nearby when the incident occurred?
4. Have you recently seen any dogs loose in the neighborhood? If yes, do you remember when or how long ago? What did it look like?
5. Have you ever seen any dog walking that matches the description of the dog?
6. Are you aware of anyone in the neighborhood that’s reported a dog missing?
7. Do you know of a child or an adult in the neighborhood that was bit or attacked recently? At any time since you’ve been living in the neighborhood?
References
Code of Ethics. (n.d.). Code of Ethics. Retrieved June 12, 2014, from http://www.nala.org/code.aspx Schroeder, C. B. (1999). 4,5,7. Civil interviewing and investigation: for paralegals (). Albany:
West Legal Studies.