The Client Interviewing Competition for England & Wales
part of the Brown Mosten International Consultation Competition
Sample roles 2016
This year’s topic is Family Law partnerships. Historically this would have been “husband and
wife” but obviously we are covering civil partnerships and co-habitation relationships. We
aren’t talking specifically about business partnerships between family law partners but there is
no reason why scenarios wouldn’t involve a business run by them.
These client roles are quite old so as well as inventing appropriate addresses and ages for
clients, you will need to update them with realistic salaries, property values etc.
Remember that all interviews are first interviews with new clients that the lawyers have never
met. In the competition the whole interview process lasts a maximum of 40 minutes. The
interview and the post-interview reflection must take place within that 40 minute period.
All clients are currently informed before the interview that:
-this interview will cost £75 + VAT unless they are eligible for public funding, and that
-your firm charges £200 + VAT per hour for future work.
Role 1: a very general (and old) role
Role 2: a 2007 regional competition role.
I have made an appointment for Jack/Jackie Hunt to see you today. His/her spouse has
apparently left her/him. S/he wants some advice about the situation.
Role 3: a 2007 finals competition role (slightly edited)
I have made an appointment for Suzanne Michaels to see you today. She did not want to give
me her address or place of employment and has only left a mobile phone number (07890550432). She says she needs some advice about civil partnerships.
© Client Interviewing Competition for England & Wales
Role 1
You and your spouse and your brother and his wife own a "Pick it yourself" farm in Oldshire.
You and your brother inherited the farm from a distant relative eight years ago and, as you
had all hankered after the country way of life, you gave up your jobs in the town and moved
to the farm. Each couple has a reasonable sized house on the farm, other accommodation is
let as holiday cottages.
You and your spouse run the farm shop and deal with the public. You are also responsible for
the farm accounts and for paying the wages of your staff. Your brother and his wife run the
farming side of the business and deal with the suppliers of seeds, fertilizer and maintenance
of the farm machinery.
Everything seemed to be working very well until last year when you discovered that your
sister-in-law was having an affair with one of the reps from the local agricultural suppliers.
Your brother found out, they have had a number of huge rows and are apparently going to
get divorced.
You would like to say that their private life is their own affair, but unfortunately their lives
are very much bound up with yours and the business. If the truth were known, and you are
reluctant to be disloyal to your own brother, he doesn't have much clue and a lot of the
success of the enterprise is really down to the enthusiasm and skill of your sister-in-law. You
are very concerned because you and your brother are joint outright owners of the farm.
You would really like to encourage your sister-in-law to stay and persuade your brother to
sell his share to you. Your brother, however, is adamant that he's staying and she's going.
You are really worried because you know that without her, you will lose a lot of the contacts
and goodwill that helps to make the business successful.
You have solicitors in London who act for the family, but you would rather take some
independent advice. Can the solicitors suggest a way to persuade your brother to sell his
share to you? Or are there any other solutions that they can think of to keep the business
running successfully?
You want the solicitors to do something now, before things get any worse.
© Client Interviewing Competition for England & Wales
Role 2
You are Jack or Jackie Hunt of The Elms, Fotheringale Road. You are 34 years old d.o.b. 1st
January 1973. You have been married to Christine/Christopher (Chris) for 3 years but you had a
close relationship with him for 3 years before that although you did not live with him full time.
Chris was a widow/er prior to your meeting her/him. S/he had 2 children from her previous
marriage, Harry and Sarah, who are now aged 11 and 13. Her/his husband/wife was tragically
killed in an aircraft accident when the children were a year and 3 years old respectively. You
did not want to marry her/him any earlier as you were concerned about the effect on the
children and you had your own daughter, Charlotte, who is now 10 years old. You are divorced
from your wife/husband but have care of Charlotte as your former wife/husband suffers from
severe depression and is frequently in hospital.
Three years ago you both became convinced that it would be better for all concerned if you got
married to Chris as all the children got on very well together and Chris was clearly finding it
difficult to cope with the children as they got older and were less willing to have a nanny or au
pair looking after them. Chris clearly also wanted a child from your relationship with her/him.
You both decided that as Chris earned considerably more money than you (s/he is the director
of a private company whereas you were an assistant solicitor) you should give up work and
spend the time organising the renovation of the home and organising the purchase, extension
and renovation of a second home in Brittany, France. All this work has now been completed.
You have prepared a schedule of assets as you believe them to be and you have this with you.
Your earnings whilst you were working were £40,000 per annum before tax and you specialised
in property transactions and know nothing about matrimonial law.
All was well for the first 18 months. It took a while for Chris/you to conceive and a year ago
she/you became pregnant. Sadly the baby was still born after 7 months. You find it very
difficult to talk about this and need the solicitors to show sympathy before you can go on. After
this Chris completely changed and became very withdrawn and totally unsympathetic to the
way you were feeling. S/he kept pleading pressure at work and took to working long hours at
the office and staying away at weekends. This greatly upset all the children and they have, as a
result, become increasingly difficult to deal with. Three weeks ago Chris left the house and said
that s/he was not going to return and would collect Harry and Sarah once s/he had found a
place to live. You have since discovered that s/he is having an affair with someone who works
for the company and who is aged about 25. She is/they are/ apparently pregnant. You found
this out from one of your friends who works for the company.
You are very worried about money as Chris has not mentioned it at all and you are currently
living off your savings from the sale of your former house. You have no pension whereas you
know Chris does although you do not know the value. Chris does appear to be currently paying
the mortgage and the other outgoings attached to the house. All the children are very upset
and keep saying that they do not want to be separated and are worried about having to move
and lose all their friends and having to change school.
You want to know what you are entitled to as you gave up everything for this marriage and are
now having to use your own savings to survive and support all the children. You think it would
© Client Interviewing Competition for England & Wales
be quite difficult to get back into work as a solicitor. You have quite enjoyed renovating the
properties and would not mind setting up a business in property renovation and it would fit
better with looking after children. You will need capital to do this. You think Chris’ conduct is
appalling and you should not lose out because you did everything for the marriage and wanted
to keep it going. The split was most definitely not your fault but you no longer want her/him
back. You have no address for Chris but s/he can be contacted via the company address which
is Marco Marine, 54 The Quayside. You have a mobile telephone number for her/him of
07896876743 for emergencies.
Schedule of Assets compiled by Jack/ie Hunt
Jack/ie Hunt
Income: nil save for child allowance for
one child £17.45
Chris Hunt
£750,000 gross from Marco Mariner Ltd.
£50,000 from investments
Capital
£180,000 from sale of former matrimonial
home (diminishing by £1,500 a month)
£15,000 Toyota Land Cruiser car
Pension
Nil
The Elms worth £2.5 million less mortgage
of £500,000
Les Oiseaux worth £500,000
Stocks and shares worth 1 million
£30,000 Aston Martin car
Pension
Pension with Commercial Union, value
unknown
© Client Interviewing Competition for England & Wales
Role 3
Client Profile
Your name is Suzanne (Suzie) Michaels. You are aged about 29. You are a teacher at the
Edward Major Secondary School in (somewhere local). You knew from a young age that you
were gay. You had a difficult time at school and had to be moved twice because of
harassment from other students. Nevertheless, you found science fascinating and went to
university where you took a degree in bio-sciences.
Your life improved noticeably when you went to university. You became more self-confident
in who you were and you had two strong relationships with other women whilst you were
there. You subsequently took your PGCE (teaching qualification) and immediately got a job
teaching science at your current school in 2000. You were found a rental flat (by the local
council) as a “key worker”. Note that this is not your current address. You have found
teaching to be a fulfilling job and you have found the time to write a children’s science book
that has sold quite well. You were promoted to Head of the Science Department in 2005.
Your relationship
You got to know Zelda Harris following a week-long training course. Zelda taught music in
the same school and was a serious and thoughtful person. Zelda is a bit older than you. She
had been living with a man called David for 4 years and they had two girls, Sam (born 2000)
and Beth (born 1997). Zelda and David’s relationship was fraught and Zelda frequently
confided in you. Early in 2002, David moved out of the house they were buying.
You were always fond of Zelda and you formed a relationship after her after she realised her
true sexual orientation. With your joint incomes, you were able to buy a two bedroom house
into which you all moved in January 2003. You bought the house for £250,000 and it is in
joint names. You paid a deposit of £75,000 and took a £175,000 mortgage. The deposit was
made up of £50,000 that Zelda got from her break-up with David and £25,000 that you had
been left by your Aunt Ruby. There was some agreement drawn up by the solicitors and you
think it said something about tenancies in common but you can’t remember anything else.
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into operation on 5 December 2005, enabling same-sex
couples to register as civil partners. You were very enthusiastic about this. You were aware
that Zelda was less sure about it but she agreed to go ahead because you were so keen. On
10 December 2005, you had a large party and your civil partnership was registered in the
local register office.
The background leading to you seeking advice
Since then, life has frankly become a real grind for you. Your job is stressful and living with
Zelda and the kids isn’t fun anymore. Zelda seems ground down and never wants to go out.
The children are very demanding and you never have a moment to yourself.
Your publisher is encouraging you to write another book which you feel would be important
for your personal development but you just don’t have the time to do it.
© Client Interviewing Competition for England & Wales
Most significantly, an old friend who is now the head of a grant maintained school in
Birmingham has recently asked you whether you would be interested in what sounds like a
brilliant job at her school. You know that Zelda would not want to move and that she would
think the move very disruptive to the children. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that she
broke up with their father.
What you need advice about
You are seriously considering splitting up from Zelda. You feel hugely guilty about this
because Zelda hasn’t really done anything wrong and you know this would be a great shock
to her. You are also worried about the impact it might have on Sam and Beth. You have no
idea what happens if you want to end a civil partnership. But if it comes to this, you want to
know how easy it would be. How on earth could all this be done without causing huge
amounts of pain all round?
You particularly want advice about the house and the children:
 What would happen about the house? You understand that it is now worth about
£350,000.
 What about Sam and Beth? Would you be able to see them if you split up with Zelda?
Unsurprisingly Zelda has a stronger relationship with Sam and Beth as they are her
kids but you are very fond of them. Would you have to support them financially?
You chose not to go to the solicitors who acted on your house purchase for advice because
you thought it would be too embarrassing. If the lawyers suggest contacting them about the
agreement to do with buying the house, ask them whether the solicitors would tell Zelda
what was going on. If so, you don’t want this to happen.
© Client Interviewing Competition for England & Wales