by Barbara Glesner Fines, Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law, Dean Emerita of UMKC School of Law

The Holloran Center is pleased to announce a new resource for a key skill for professional identity formation.  Co-Director of the Holloran Center & Bakken Professor of Law Jerry Organ and Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law, Dean Emerita of UMKC School of Law, and Holloran Center Fellow Barbara Glesner Fines have just published INTERVIEWING & COUNSELING IN THE PROSPECTIVE CLIENT CONSULTATION (eLangdell 2026).

Because the text holds a creative commons license, faculty can freely adopt and adapt the text for many different uses. Possible uses include:

• A primary text in an interviewing and counseling course;
• A secondary text in a lawyering skills course;
• A resource to support client interviewing exercises in doctrinal or broader lawyering skills classes; and
• Training materials to prepare students for clinics, externships, and competitions.

Because this is an open-source textbook, the materials are also free to students.

The text frames instruction in the context of the initial interview of a prospective client, although the counseling portion of the text goes beyond what many attorneys might actually address in an initial interview. The knowledge and skills addressed in the text can apply equally to any conversation with a client or others involved in a matter.  The text provides ample opportunities for students to connect these skills to their ongoing conception of what it means to be an attorney, with practice problems representing diverse areas of practice and prompts for reflective writing or discussion.

You can access the book here: https://www.cali.org/books/interviewing-counseling-prospective-client-consultation.

Questions? Feel free to contact Jerry Organ (jmorgan@stthomas.edu) or Barbara Glesner Fines (glesnerb@umkc.edu).