Lissett Martinez

Legal Counselor

Wilma Doors/ Rose Parasole

Client

10/5/2015

10/5/2015
Date of Conference

Date of Critique

COUNSELING SELF-CRITIQUE CHART

Please review the recording of your counseling session and answer/chart the following information about your own performance.

COUNSELING CHART
Did your chart skillfully guide you through the conference?

YES

NO

Did you include a summary of law to discuss with your client?

YES

NO

Do you have a summary of the options to discuss?

YES

NO

Was each option clearly labeled?

YES

NO

Were basic advantages and disadvantages included?

YES

NO

Was the chart easy to read?

YES

NO

Did you include prompts to help your client come to a decision?

YES

NO

Was your chart designed to show to your client (there are pros & cons to this)

YES

NO

If you showed it to client, was the chart held so the client could read along?

YES

NO

Did you explain the counseling process and expectations (the roadmap frame)?

YES

NO

Did you ask client if anything has happened since your last contact (may become
another interview)?

YES

NO

If an interview occurred, did you use your tools and skills? Describe in example section.

YES

ROADMAP FRAME AND PRELIMINARIES

N/A

NO

SUMMARIZING AND DISCUSSING OPTIONS

Were all options summarized before any single alternative was discussed in detail?

YES

NO

Did you explain advantages of each option?

YES

NO

Did you explain disadvantages of each option?

YES

NO

Did the client have an opportunity to add input on advantages/disadvantages?

YES

NO

Did the client understand each option?

YES

NO

Were all the legal consequences explained?

YES

NO

Did you discuss non-legal consequences?

YES

NO

Was each option generally exhausted before another was introduced?

YES

NO

Did you make any process comments during the counseling? If yes, give one ex. below

YES

NO

Did you use any legalese? If yes, give one example below

YES

NO

Circle / mark one value. 1=Always, 3=Half the time, 5=Never

The client actively participated in the discussion (If not, why not? Describe below

The clients freedom to decide was generally respected (If you feel you may have
imposed on clients freedom to decide, describe below)

YES

NO

Did anything unexpected occur? If yes, describe below and how you handled it.

YES

NO

Was the client able to make a decision from the information provided?

YES

NO

EXAMPLES
Please use quotes from your recording to provide examples of the following, if they occurred:

INTERVIEW DURING COUNSELING CONFERENCE

If your conference included an interview, please give examples of your use of the following techniques:
N/A

Listening
Active listening reflection of content. Please indicate number of occurrences and give at least one example.

Active listening reflection of feeling. Please indicate number of occurrences and give at least one example.

Failure to hear client. Please indicate number of occurrences and give at least one example, if any.

Motivating
Positive feedback. Please indicate number of occurrences and give at least one example.

Motivating statement. Please indicate number of occurrences and give at least one example.

Funnel Sequence
Assuming you used one or more funnel sequences, please analyze one sequence and list your initial open question
and a few of the follow-up closed questions.
Open question:
Closed question:
Closed question:
Closed Question:

Page 2 Counseling Self-critique

COUNSELING ELEMENTS
Please give one or more examples of the following elements. Use quotes if possible.

Your explanation of the counseling process (1-2 sentences)

(0:09-0:28): So our interview today will be a little different than last time. The point of this meeting is to go over
what your options are as I understand them to be and try to come up with which one is the best one for you.

How you and your client decided on which option to discuss first

(7:57-8:00) Because I forgot to summarize the options first before discussing the advantages and disadvantages of
each option, it was weird that I went through each option first and then asked the client: is there one option that
you would like to begin with? So although I did ask which option they wanted to discuss first, it was in the wrong
order.

A legal consequence

I did not identify any legal consequences for the client under the assumption that they werent relevant yet but it
would make sense if next time I provided the client with a general overview such as: Usually, even standard form
leases are enforced. This would provide the client with enough background to properly consider the available
options but is not so much as to overwhelm them.

A non-legal consequence

(6:49-7_01) The disadvantages are that you may lose your security deposit and that it would be very expensive. I
know that youre paying $950 now so that's a lot of money. $950 times 3, that's a lot.

How you helped the client come to a decision

The fact that I didnt summarize the options first before delving into the advantages and disadvantages also
affected my ability to help the client come to a decision. Had I followed the proper order, I would have focused on
helping the client reach her decision but instead I asked her: is there one option you would like to begin with? (see
above) instead of which option sounds best to you? However, I did help the client reach her decision because
after she decided I reinforced that it was a good option. See (8:48-9:27) yeah, I think this is a really good option
and it allows you to keep your new job, and hopefully once I help you with all this, he will be more amenable and we
can try to negotiate your security deposit and his whole final approval thing because maybe he is just worried about
the new tenants. etc

A Process comment (an observation of the counseling process that you shared with your client

In the beginning, I explained the process but I never made a process comment after that.

Any legalese

I did not use any legalese in my counseling session. I am very mindful about the fact that a lot of clients will be lay
people and it is so crucially important for them to fully understand everything in plain English. Legalese would get in
the way of an effective communication since they will not understand what it means and may sound
condescending.

If client failed to participate fully, why?

Client was very participatory, which I really appreciated. She allowed me to discuss the options fully and later gave
me her own feedback as to what she thought of the option.
Page 3 Counseling Self-critique

If you imposed on the clients freedom to decide, how?

I did not impose on the clients freedom to decide. I reserved making unnecessary comments about my own opinion
unless and until the client showed hesitancy in making a decision. Even then, I would make comments that would
help the client in deciding without imposing my own beliefs such as: which option would suit most of your
objectives?

Any Unexpected Occurrence

Nothing unexpected occurred during this counseling session.

Page 4 Counseling Self-critique

WRITTEN PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

After completing the first part of this self-critique, please thoughtfully and specifically answer the
following questions.
1. Identify the two most effective aspects of your performance and discuss why they
were effective:
The first most effective aspect of my performance was my explanation of the process and
content and objective summary. I was able to adequately explain how this meeting was different
from the initial interview. Additionally, I provided a lengthy but succinct version of the clients
factual summary and separated it from a summary of her objectives. After asking her whether I
had described her factual situation accurately and whether I missed anything, I then described
her objectives as I understood them to be. I followed it up with asking her whether that was an
accurate description. This was effective because it reminded the client as to what we had
discussed in the previous interview and gives her an opportunity to clarify and correct my
understanding of the objectives if they changed for example. It also helped the client orient
herself with the counseling process because if she understand what the point of the meeting is,
she is more likely to participate and provide helpful feedback.
The second most effective aspect of my performance was that I asked the client after every
option was explained whether the client could think of any other advantages and disadvantages
after I explained every option. I also asked the client whether she has any questions or concerns
regarding each option. This afforded an opportunity for the client to provide feedback as to each
option.
2. Identify the two least effective aspects of your performance and discuss why you think
they occurred and what you might have done to make them more effective:
The first least effective aspect of my performance is that I did not summarize the options
before explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each. This affected the rest of the
interview in that I wasnt able to really hone in on helping the client reach her decision. It also
prevented me from effectively asking her which option she would like to begin with. But most
importantly, it forced the client to think deeply about one option without knowing what the other
would be which definitely effected the client in asking questions regarding each one and
exploring it fully before moving on to the next option. Next time, I will remember to summarize
the options before diving into each option.
The second least effective aspect of my performance is that although I asked the client to inform
me as to whether there were any advantages or disadvantages that she can come up with
regarding each option, I did not ask the client what her thoughts and feelings were regarding
each option. Failing to receive an assessment from the client regarding each option had the
effect of blindsiding me once client reached her decision because I would only imagine why she
chose it instead of knowing explicitly why. It would have been very effective to know the clients
considerations in order to make informed decisions after the meeting because I would have a
broader understanding of what her objectives are and what she definitely wants to avoid. Next
time, I will ask the client to explain her thoughts and feelings as to each one.
3. Discuss the most challenging part of the counseling session and evaluate how
effectively you met that challenge.

The most challenging part of the counseling session was keeping all of the clients
considerations in mind as I discussed the options. I met that challenge by writing the
considerations down and repeatedly reminded the client as to what she has said to give her a
better understanding of how everything would work in each option. I tried giving her as much
information as possible to get her to properly consider and weigh the options.