The Interview

When I was first told we had to do an interview, I was a little nervous about finding a lawyer who actually had the time to go through a full interview with me. My group’s project had to do with communication conflicts between clients and lawyers, so I searched on web for local lawyers. After making a couple phone calls, I realized that it was going to be harder than I thought contacting a lawyer who had time for an interview. Eventually I contacted a law firm where my friend’s mother worked and she was able to get me someone to interview. I ended up interviewing a man named Jason Fernandez who is lawyer at Greenburg and Bederman Lawyers in downtown Sliver Spring, MD. Because he was in court all day he did not have enough time for a face to face interview so I had to call him over the phone. After calling twice I left a voicemail with my name and number and to my surprise he returned my phone call.
One thing I was nervous about was the intimidation a lawyer can hold at times. I thought the interview was going to be awkward, especially because it was over the phone, however it turned out to be very natural since Mr. Fernandez is a pretty open and welcoming person. Once I started talking to him, I knew then that this project was not going to be as bad as I thought. I was trying to make the interview quick and to the point to not waste any of Mr. Fernandez time. When he called, the first thing he said was “sorry for the delay” , and that right there demonstrated to me the type of person he was which ultimately effects his career as well. Although I had done some research on types of lawyers prior to the interview, I still felt as though I was not ready to have a thorough conversation with the lawyer because of the simple fact that I was not familiar with that field. Despite my insecurities I actually felt confident and I wanted to ask more questions as they came because of my curiosity.
All of the questions that I asked Mr. Fernandez had to with the communication barriers and conflicts between lawyers and their clients. I learned that most lawyers can never be 100% independent about their dilemma, they have to always give an honest opinion, however at some point there is insensitiveness towards the clients situation. There are some cases where clients feel that because they are guilty and that there is no point in even talking to a lawyer. Mr. Fernandez stated, “when clients dissapear, hope for the case disappears,” . It is imperative that clients meet their lawyers if they want to have a good case. I learned that the more you tell the lawyer about the case, the better they can help you. Mr. Fernandez as well told me that there is nothing learned about communicating with a client at law school, he learned everything as it came to him and most lawyers pretty much feel the same way.
Ultimately the interview was a learning process about the communicating in a professional level as well as being enlightened of the ways clients communicate with their lawyers. Communication is key for law and the court system.