Analysis of Interview with Undergraduate Draft 1

Write up for interview

We interviewed On Chun Wee Derek, a third year law student from the National University of Singapore to find out his view on communication skills and if NUS Law faculty is able to bring across to students the important communication skills needed while practicing law. The basis of this interview was to further clarify certain aspects of observation gathered from responses to our survey. Secondly, we believe that by holding an interview with a current student, we can find out the current modules and teaching styles employed by law professors. Moreover, we would like to find out if the message of certain communication skills that the professors want to teach, effectively brought across to students.

One of the questions which we posed to him was, ‘Are internships are the only way to learn communication skills?’ He told us that internships were the only way to practice communication skills such as listening, intercultural and interpersonal skills. This was because in law school the students do not have the opportunity to interact with client. Although, professors would remind them time and again that to be a good lawyer, they need to have good communication skills. However, he pointed out that even during internships, interns do not get to interact directly with clients. They mostly take minutes of meetings their mentors have with clients and from there observe and learn how these qualified lawyers practice active listening and relating their clients situation in a law framework.

However, he clarified that to deal with the lack of practice of communication with clients in fresh graduates. Firms do have a contract training period of one year with new employees. This contract training period would then consist of six months of studying for the bar exam, which law students have to pass to practice law, and for the remaining six months these new employees would be under the mentorship and guidance of an experienced lawyer. During this mentorship period, new lawyers are guided on how to handle cases by their mentors. And their meetings with clients are always held in the presence of the mentor.

We wanted to find out what teaching methods were employed by professors in various courses to teach communication skills. He said that for legal research, the school subscribes to various law databases to allow students to carry out investigations to build up cases. On the other hand, there are not a lot of role playing done in courses, and may be limited to mediation and child and advocacy where students role play. This may give a wrong response to the situation as the students themselves do know how to answer in a legalistic manner.

Lastly, we wanted to find out if students were willing to undertake a module specializing in communication skills. He brought up an important point that students would benefit from such a module. However, he is worried on how the course would be graded as a communication course is subjective and very hard to assess. Hence, he felt that to make it a pass/fail course may draw students to be interested in the course.