FAMILY LAW

STATE: IL

1.Assume that you are conducting an initial client interview with a client who is involved in a custody dispute with her husband and that you become fairly certain the client is lying to you. What do you think you should do at this stage of the process? Do you confront the client? Do you ignore your concerns? Are there any techniques you might use for eliciting the truth? Is it your responsibility to elicit the truth?

Assume that you continue working with this client and, despite your concern, have established a good relationship with her. One day she comes into your office and tells you that she has been lying to you and that she is a drug addict and is frequently high when she is with her children.

What do you do at this point? In thinking about it, assume that you are the only paralegal in a busy office and that although you could ask to be taken off the case, this would make matters difficult for the supervising attorney.

2.Do you think the discovery process should be as open-ended as it currently is? Why or why not? Are there ways it could be limited without interfering with a party's ability to prepare a case?

3.Is it fair to require one party to pay the other side's attorney where there is a disparity of income? Why or why not?

4.Do you think mediation is appropriate in cases involving domestic violence? What about cases not involving violence, but where there is a significant power imbalance between the spouses?

5.Under which circumstances, if any, do you think that paralegals should be able to provide clients with legal advice?