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Interview Skills

03 January 2008 / Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC
Issue: 7302 / Categories: Opinion , Training & education , Profession , Employment
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The lawyer/client relationship is central to legal education, says Geoffrey Bindman

In 1982 I took a sabbatical in . I taught for four months at the of , (UCLA) . There I pursued my interest in anti­discrimination law, which was much more developed in the than in . But, having practised as a solicitor for more than 20 years, I was naturally interested in the practice of law as well as theory. By contrast with law schools at that time in , which seemed completely detached from the legal profession, UCLA took an interest in what its students were likely to do after they graduated. Practical training was the prov­ince of the “clinical program”, one element of which was participation by students in the client counselling competition.

 

THE CASE METHOD

This had been started by a lawyer called Louis M Brown, a successful general and commercial practitioner. He had also taught for several years part-time at the law school of the .

Brown had

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