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Duration 35 hours (5 days)
Course Outline
Day 1: Steering the Legal Consultation Process
The Legal Advisor’s Role and Responsibilities
- The scope and duties of a legal consultant
- Translating legal knowledge into practical advice
- Aligning with the client’s objectives and expectations
- Balancing legal accuracy, professional judgment, and commercial insight
- Maintaining independence and objectivity in client counseling
- Identifying matters that necessitate specialist or additional input
Receiving and Clarifying Instructions
- Interpreting the initial client request
- Uncovering the core legal question behind the inquiry
- Distinguishing facts, assumptions, opinions, and legal issues
- Asking targeted questions to gather relevant details
- Identifying missing documents and supporting evidence
- Defining the boundaries of the legal assignment
Executing Effective Consultations
- Preparation for client meetings
- Structuring the consultation flow
- Practicing active listening and effective questioning
- Managing ambiguous or incomplete briefings
- Confirming client priorities and desired outcomes
- Documenting instructions and agreeing on next steps
Practical Exercise
- Conducting an initial consultation based on a client scenario
- Drafting an issue list and identifying pre-advice information requirements
Day 2: Legal Research and Information Synthesis
Planning the Research Strategy
- Translating client issues into research questions
- Identifying the relevant legal domains
- Formulating a focused research plan
- Prioritizing research based on importance and risk
- Avoiding redundant or unfocused inquiries
Navigating Legal Sources
- Utilizing primary and secondary legal materials
- Engaging with legislation, regulations, case law, guidance, and commentary
- Understanding the hierarchy and authority of legal precedents
- Evaluating relevance and credibility
- Verifying the currency of legal information
- Recording sources for future reference and verification
Efficient Research Techniques
- Formulating effective legal search terms
- Refining research using facts and legal concepts
- Adjusting the breadth and depth of research questions
- Cross-validating findings across reliable sources
- Identifying conflicting legal authorities
- Determining when sufficient research has been achieved
Practical Exercise
- Researching a specific legal issue from a case study
- Compiling a research note that highlights relevant rules, authorities, uncertainties, and open questions
Day 3: Legal Analysis, Reasoning, and Risk Evaluation
Structuring the Analysis
- Identifying material facts
- Determining applicable legal rules
- Linking legal rules to the client’s specific circumstances
- Differentiating between strong and weak arguments
- Spotting assumptions and information gaps
- Formulating logical legal conclusions
Applying Legal Reasoning
- Employing Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion (IRAC) frameworks
- Comparing alternative legal interpretations
- Working with incomplete or ambiguous information
- Assessing the impact of conflicting authorities
- Distinguishing legal possibility from legal probability
- Avoiding conclusions without adequate support
Evaluating Legal Risk
- Identifying legal, regulatory, contractual, and procedural risks
- Considering probability and potential impact
- Evaluating the outcomes of various options
- Identifying practical measures to mitigate risk
- Communicating uncertainty without providing vague advice
- Aligning legal risk with the client’s operational goals
Practical Exercise
- Analyzing a complex legal scenario
- Drafting a legal issue and risk assessment
- Developing preliminary recommendations backed by legal reasoning
Day 4: Drafting Legal Opinions and Written Counsel
Planning the Opinion
- Understanding the opinion’s purpose and intended audience
- Confirming the specific questions to be addressed
- Organizing facts, issues, analysis, and recommendations
- Determining the appropriate level of detail
- Distinguishing confirmed facts from assumptions
- Managing qualifications and limitations
Composing a Professional Opinion
- Drafting a clear introduction and scope
- Presenting the relevant factual context
- Defining the legal issues
- Explaining the applicable legal position
- Developing structured analysis
- Presenting conclusions and practical recommendations
- Highlighting risks, qualifications, and areas of uncertainty
Writing Clear Advice
- Using concise and precise legal language
- Explaining technical concepts to non-legal audiences
- Minimizing unnecessary legal jargon
- Making recommendations clear and actionable
- Distinguishing legal advice from business decisions
- Reviewing advice for accuracy, consistency, and completeness
Practical Workshop
- Drafting a legal opinion based on a realistic client problem
- Receiving peer and facilitator review on structure, reasoning, clarity, and recommendations
- Revising the opinion incorporating feedback
Day 5: Delivering Advice and Managing Advisory Assignments
Presenting Advice to Stakeholders
- Preparing for advisory meetings
- Clearly presenting the legal position
- Explaining legal risk in practical terms
- Communicating available options and their consequences
- Making balanced recommendations
- Responding to inquiries and challenges
Handling Complex Situations
- Advising when the legal position is uncertain
- Managing pressure for specific legal outcomes
- Communicating unfavorable conclusions effectively
- Resolving disagreements among stakeholders
- Managing changes in facts or instructions
- Recognizing when further research or specialist input is needed
Maintaining Quality in Advisory Work
- Verifying facts, sources, reasoning, and conclusions
- Ensuring consistency between research and final advice
- Documenting assumptions and limitations
- Maintaining appropriate records of advice provided
- Following up after consultations
- Developing practical quality-control habits for advisory work
Final Advisory Simulation
- Receiving and clarifying a client instruction
- Identifying key legal and factual issues
- Preparing a focused research approach
- Conducting legal analysis and risk assessment
- Drafting a concise written legal opinion
- Presenting advice in a simulated client meeting
- Responding to client questions and alternative scenarios
- Receiving facilitator feedback on research, reasoning, drafting, and communication
Requirements
To maximize the benefit of this course, participants are expected to:
- Possess a foundational understanding of legal concepts and terminology.
- Be currently engaged in providing legal support, analysis, compliance, governance, or advisory services.
- Have the ability to read and interpret legal or regulatory documents at a basic level.
- Demonstrate basic written and verbal communication skills.
- Have experience operating within a professional or organizational setting.
Testimonials (2)
Fun to talk
Jihan Fadila - BAF
Course - Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for Internal Audit
casual conversation supported by specific examples