LEGAL AID POINTERS

Dealing with clients:

1. CLAO volunteers are only to assist supervising lawyers and cannot give advice. To
assist means: to gather the facts for the lawyer and upon completion of narration
of facts, relay them to the lawyers.
2. Use 5W and 1H to have a complete picture of the problem set. Follow-up on leads
and do not just focus on a particular issue that resonates with you or is familiar to
you or that which you are comfortable addressing.
3. Ask the client what their problem is and what they want to happen or the relief they
want from a government office or the opposing party. Relay this relief as well to the
supervising lawyer when endorsing the case.
4. While the supervising lawyer is giving an advice, volunteers may conduct research
on the side and to hand research to the lawyer tactfully.
5. Listen to the client. Do not argue in front of the client nor with the client. Do not talk
over each other. Do not point at each other, in clear view of the client, as to who
will take the lead in gathering the facts.
6. Remember to complete the Client Information Sheet (see below).
7. When all else fails, fake it ‘til you make it.

Preparing the Reports:

1. The parts of the report should be (a) facts, (b) relief prayed for or issues raised for
query, (c) subject matter from general to specific, i.e. Civil law, Succession,
Legitime, (d) applicable laws and jurisprudence, (e) advice or actions taken, and
(f) name of volunteer and supervising lawyer.
2. You are expected to prepare a report at the end of every session with a client. This
report should be in full sentences. Do not use bullets.
3. Remember you are not writing for yourself but for other people who might be
relying on your report for study and case-building in the future.
4. For every client, there should only be one report. Should there be more than one
volunteer assisting a client, the rule is the same: one client, one report. You may
jointly prepare a report but there should only be one.
5. If the client has more than one issue, which are not related to each other, prepare
another report.
 6. The preparation of a document for notarization or for any purpose requires the
preparation of a report as well, unless, it is only the written output covered by an
already existing report.

Thank you and Good Luck.