Skills

Family lawyers are professional problem-solvers, but is telling clients what they need to know always the best approach?  Jacinta Gallant explores the power of asking rather than telling. She considers how curiosity, careful listening and noticing defensive behaviour can help practitioners understand what really matters to clients – and recognise when it might be time to stop talking and start asking.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an approach that all family lawyers and mediators could and should be using in their work. The principles and skills involved overlap with and are complementary to mediation skills, but they go further in some key ways