After completing the readings and videos for this week, please read the following hypothetical and reflect on the questions at the bottom:
You are a lawyer practicing family law and education law in St. Paul, Minnesota. A prospective client calls you to discuss a legal concern. The client is 35-year-old Somali woman who lives in Farmington, Minnesota (a rural community about 45 minutes south of St. Paul). She wishes to meet with you about her 9-year-old son who is struggling academically and socially at his Farmington elementary school.
You speak with the client briefly over the phone and encourage her to go to your website to schedule an in-person appointment. You advise her that the first 30-minute meeting will be free. After that, you will charge your hourly rate of $300 for further work and consultation. The client hangs up and calls back a few minutes later and asks to schedule an appointment over the phone. You agree to meet with her at 1pm the next day (a Wednesday).
The prospective client arrives at your office for your meeting. When she arrives, your office manager asks the prospective client if she needs her parking validated. The prospective client shakes her head no and quietly mentions something about having traveled on the bus. The office manager brings the prospective client to the conference room and asks the prospective client if she would like anything to drink. Again, the prospective client shakes her head no. The prospective client appears uncomfortable and so the office manager quickly retreats and closes the conference room door.
A few minutes later you arrive and introduce yourself to the prospective client. You realize the prospective client’s English-speaking skills are limited and she explains that she has brought her twelve-year old daughter with her to assist with interpretation.
The prospective client, through her daughter, explains that her 9-year-old son has been struggling in school this year. The prospective client tells you that her child is struggling in school, both behaviorally and academically. The school administration has threatened to remove her son from the school. The principal has complained that her son refuses to focus or complete any work during school. He stares off into space and doesn’t acknowledge his classmates or the teacher speaking to him. He pulls his hoodie up over his head and slumps back in his chair or lays his arms and head on his desk and closes his eyes. He is very social and distracts the other students. Twice this year he has gotten into an argument with another (male) classmate at recess and the teacher has had to separate them.
As a last resort, the school guidance counselor and Individualized Education Program (IEP) team have done some academic testing of her son and have recommended further neuropsychological evaluation to understand her son’s needs before a final decision is made about his continued enrollment in the school. The prospective client is worried that her son will be kicked out of school if she does not submit to the testing, but she also isn’t sure about the testing.
You advise the prospective client that she can request an independent neuropsychological evaluation (the test being recommended by the IEP team) at public expense. You further advise her that you believe this evaluation would be beneficial to the IEP team in better understanding her son’s struggles and learning needs. The daughter communicates this advice to the prospective client.
The prospective client appears alarmed and adamantly opposes your recommendation. After some questioning, you realize that the prospective client mistakenly understood that a neuropsychological evaluation would entail sticking a needle into her son’s brain. You quickly try to explain that this is not the case, but you can see the misunderstanding has caused the prospective client significant distress.
The prospective client thanks you for your advice and gets up to leave. You recommend that she take a day to think about your advice and you promise to call her tomorrow to see if she has additional questions. The prospective client and her daughter leave your office.
Consider and answer the following questions in your discussion board response. As you respond to the questions, you may ignore concerns about attorney-client privilege that might be raised by the daughter’s presence in the meeting.
What barriers or concerns might your client have faced in trying to find answers to her legal questions about her son’s difficulties at school? Consider both the client’s experience before the meeting with you as well as her experience during the meeting with you.
What things might you, as the attorney, have done differently to help the prospective client overcome those barriers or concerns and ensure that her experience was client-centered?
If the prospective client decides to retain you to advocate on her behalf with her son’s school, what steps can you take to best represent her in this matter? You do not need to comment on the legal arguments that you would make on her or her son’s behalf. Instead, focus on the steps you might take to make the client’s experience as positive as possible under the circumstances.
Readings:
2016 ABA Future of Legal Services -Report-Web.pdf (srln.org)
justice-needs-and-satisfaction-us.pdf (du.edu)
COVID-19 And The Reformation Of Legal Culture (forbes.com)