Interviewing real clients and the ways it deepens students’ understandings of legal ethics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Legal ethics teaching can be enriched and deepened when students experience legal practice through, for example, client interviews. Further, many legal educators are committed to encouraging their students’ commitment to contribute to the community through making the law and legal system fairer. One means of achieving this goal is by introducing a clinical component into a legal ethics course. Empirical research conducted with current students in Australia, analyses students’ changing understandings of ethical values and practice when conducting legal interviews. The article discusses the relationship between an ‘ethic of care’ and concepts of ‘justice’, examined through students’ experiences of client interviewing. It also examines students’ commitment to the justice system, including the finding that their commitment to making law fairer is reinforced through working with disadvantaged clients.