Cooley Students Learn How to Communicate with Future Clients

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July 19, 2007

Cooley Students Learn How to Communicate with Future Clients

Speakers at the Cultural Competency Workshop included (l to r): Juan Salazar, Legal Aid caseworker; Leslie Curry, Legal Aid attorney; Prof. Tracey Brame, Cooley Law School; and Rev. Chico Daniels, Director, Guiding Light Mission.

GR Cooley students learned how to communicate with clients who come from diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultures or who live in situational or generational poverty, at a Cultural Competency Workshop on July 19.

The workshop, faciliated by Cooley Professor Tracey Brame on the Grand Rapids Campus, focused on the cognitive skills of potential clients and how attorneys could communicate most effectively. Presenters included Rev. Chico Daniels, Director of the Guiding Light Mission; Juan Salazar, Legal Aid caseworker; and Leslie Curry, Legal Aid attorney.

All of the speakers stressed the need for students to treat their clients as individuals and to avoid stereotyping. They encouraged the students to try to understand their clients, to use humor in their interactions, and to understand their own cultural biases.

The workshop was the second in a series of Cultural Competency workshops that are being offered throughout the summer and fall of 2007 on the Grand Rapids Campus.

This Page was last updated on: 07/25/2007