Everyone? So our second search algorithm is the smart sequential search. So it basically works like sequential search, but we can get a little bit of an improvement if our items are sorted. And in fact, smart sequential search only works if the items in the list are sorted. That's okay. Most items can be sorted. You know, strings have an alphabetical order, integers, floats, numeric order, right? But if we have these things sorted ahead of time, we can use this to our advantage. So this might be, for example, a way that you search through library books on the bookshelf. Because, you know, the books on the bookshelf, they have their call numbers on them, the Library of Congress call number. But, you know, that call number is not necessarily like super intuitive. The scale is a little weird of it. But if the library is, you know, if people are doing their jobs at the library and the patrons are courteous, the items will be in order. So when you go into the book, you can say, I'm looking for item qa76.76.b245, right? One way you can find it sequentially is you start like the beginning of the bookshelf and then you just kind of scan upward on these call numbers. But once you know, once you see a call number bigger than the one you're looking for, like I was looking for qa76.76 and I'm going along and I see qa76.76 and then all of a sudden I see qa78. Well, I know that once I see that 78, I've gone too far. My book must not be there. Because if it was there, it would have come before this qa76 book, 78 book, excuse me. That's the idea of a smart sequential search. You're still looking sequentially or linearly up the list. But when you see a value that is greater than your target, well, you know your target must not be in the list. So same thing here. Suppose in this sorted again, the sorting is essential. I've got a sorted list of integers. Suppose I am looking for 45 in the list. Well, sequential search says are you 45? No. 45. No. 45. 45. 45. Are you 45? No, but you're also bigger than 45. So 45 was in this list. I would have found it by now. Well, that's the premise of smart sequential search. So here's the smart sequential search algorithm. It's a little bit, tiny bit different than the sequential search algorithm. It too is on the paper. But let's go through it. Let's trace this again. And this time I'm going to keep track of the number of comparisons that I am doing for each search, right? So let's apply this algorithm by hand. Again, the algorithm is on, I think, the first page of your hand out. Now let's go to the third page. So I'm looking at this example. Here is an ordered list down here near the bottom of the third page. And we're going to search for the same things. We're going to search for 332 for 91. Oh, can't see that. We're going to search for 332 for 91 and for 22. But we're going to use this list. Again, it has to be ordered, sorted for it to work. All right. So let's do it. Let's trace one. Let's start at the top of our algorithm. A is our list of elements in ascending order. Super important, right? List of elements in ascending order. N is the number of elements in A. How many elements are there? There are eight. Okay. Target is the item we want to search. Well, let's start out by searching for target 332. We have a different variable now. We've got done. Done is initialized to false. And location is zero. So again, we start at zero and we count up. Okay. The control loop is pretty similar. While the location is less than n, so while this guy has not gone past the end of the list, and we're not done, whatever that means, we do stuff. So if the target, let's do the first two loops together and then we'll speed it up. Okay. If target 332 is less than a sub look is less than this value. A sub look is the value in the list. Okay. Set done to true. Okay. Well, the target is not less than or equal to this. Okay. Target is not less than or equal to this. So if else set the location equal to location plus one. Okay. So we're effectively moving the location up a slot. Okay. And now we loop back around while location less than n, one is less than eight and not done. Done is still false and not done. Do the following. If the target 332 is less than or equal to a sub look five 332 is not less than five. So we do our else look gets look plus one. Okay. So we shuffle it up. Okay. So let's speed this up a little bit. Right. Is the target less than or equal to six? No. Is the target less than or equal to eight? No. Is the target less than or equal to 91? No. No. No. Okay. Here. Now we're at the end. So when we get to the end the location will have to be seven at this point. We go into our while loop. If target is less than or equal to a sub look. Well, in fact, it is equal to a sub look. Yeah. 333. Our target is equal to this. What do we do? Target is less than or equal to a sub look. We set done to true and we exit the if else block come up here and now this criteria is no longer true. We are done and it is done. So we exit the loop. Okay. Now we've got one final kind of like thing that we're going to do here. If look equals equals n. Okay. Look does not equal and look is still seven. Right. Look is still seven or target does not equal a sub look. Okay. Well, the target is 332 and it does equal a sub look. So we don't do this. We skip over this. Right. We just return look, which is seven. Right. So the smart sequential search is giving us back the index of the item in the list. Okay. How many comparisons did we do? Well, we did one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. We did eight comparisons here. So that's okay. We actually had to look at everything in a list. That's not great. Right. There's no improvement here of the smart sequential search. How about 91? What happens if our target becomes 91 and we reset our loop? Okay. Well, I'm not going to walk through the whole thing again. Let's just do it quickly. What do we do? Is the is the target less than or equal to this guy? No. Less is 91 less than or equal to five. No. No. No. Yes. 91 is less than or equal to 91. Okay. So when look is for we stop, we have found it. Right. How many comparisons did we do? Well, we compared it the target to one to this one, two, three, four, five, five comparisons. Okay. All right. Now, 22. This one's a little more interesting, right? This is where the smartness comes in to the smart sequential search. So let's reset our algorithm here. When I say reset our algorithm, I'm just zeroing out initializing everything over here. Our target now is 22. Okay. Now, here, we're going to have to count the number of comparisons very carefully. How are we counting comparisons? We count a comparison when we compare the target to an element of the list. Okay. So let me do it like Roman tick mark style down here. All right. I'm going to run the algorithm quickly though. Is the target less than or equal to a sub look? Yes. One comparison. And we move the location up. All right. That's what our algorithm says to do. Is the target, or excuse me, is the target less than or equal to a sub look? No. Okay. So we move our location up a slot. Is our target 22 less than or equal to six? No. Whoops. I've forgotten to put my tick marks in here. Five, six. Okay. Next comparison is the target 22 less than or equal to eight. No. But that is a comparison is target less than or equal to eight. Right. Now I'm up here. Oh, I don't know why I said an equal to zero. That's wrong. Okay. Now I'm up here. Right. Let's go back to the beginning loop while location is less than n. It is five is less than eight. And not done. I haven't found it yet. So I'm not done. If target less than or equal to a sub look, target is less than or equal to a sub look. It is less than. Right. That's one final comparison here. So I've got five, five comparisons. Now I jump out of my loop. Right. I come back up to my while loop. But I'm now done. Right. Because the target is less than or equal to this value. Right. So if the target is less than or equal to the value set done equal to true, come back up to my while loop. And look is still less than n. But now I am done. Right. Now I am done. So this fails. I break out here. And now I'm down to my if statement. Okay. If look equal equal and look is not equal to and look is still five and is a or target not equal a sub look. Target is 22. And it does not equal a sub look. Okay. So or this is true. This evaluates to true. Something or true, we go inside our loop set look equal to none looks look equal to none. And finally return the look. Okay. So interesting. Right. Now we know. Right. We've kind of short circuited our loop. We determined because this value is bigger than our target. And we haven't seen our target yet. It can't possibly be in there. So this is the smartness of the smart sequential search. When the item is not in there, you might be able to stop looking sooner. But all that depends on the fact that this thing is sorted. This does not work if the list is not sorted. If the list is unordered. Okay. All right. So let's answer these questions. This question is the same as this one in your worksheet. Right. How do you know when the target is not present? Well, you know that it is not present when the target is less than a sub look. Right. If it's not in there. Right. The target is less than this. It's not there. Or the other case could be. And this one we didn't do an example of. The other case is when you're looking for a target that's so big, it's bigger than the biggest thing. Okay. If the target were, say, 999, 9922, 9,922. You would wind up walking all the way off this list. In which case you would stop. It would be just like sequential search. Right. If you walk off the end of the list, it's definitely not in there. Right. So, or the location is equal to n. The size of the list. Okay. So that's how you know when a target is not present using smart sequential search. So the smart linear search or smart sequential search, again sequential versus linear same thing in this context, compares two objects using less than or equal. Okay. What method must be defined in a Python class, a custom class, like for a bank account or a patient record student, whatever, for it to be comparable with the less than or equal operator? Okay. Well, equal equal, this thing is the EQ method. Less than equal is LTE. Less than equal. And it works just the same as the equal equal method, except, you know, you return true or false from the LTE method. And inside that method, you define what it means to be less than or equal to. So you can use the less than or equal operator in there. Okay. So that's the idea of smart sequential search of a sorted list. All right. Now let's go to our chart. Smart sequential search. All right. So how many comparisons are required when the target is present in the list in the best case? When the best case, where would the element be in the list? In the best case, if it's there, you would find it in the first spot, right? In slot one, just like you did with sequential search. Okay. Same thing. In the worst case, where would it be? Again, it's there. The worst case, well, that's the case we had with 332. In the worst case, you have to compare, do eight comparisons. You have to look at all n items in the list because it's in the last slot. Okay. Same thing. Now let's answer the question. What if the thing is not in the list? Okay. What's the best case if the item is not in the list? Okay. Well, let's scooch up here again. What would be the best case here? Well, the best case would be you're looking for a target that's less than the first element in the list. Say your target would be negative one. Okay. Well, if it's less than the smallest item in the list, right away, your while loop will break out because it'll say a sub-loak is less than, or excuse me, target is less than a sub-loak. I'm done. It's not there. So in the best case for a smart sequential search, you only have to look at one item. Okay. So that's an improvement up here, right, over the sequential search. In the best case, there's only one comparison.  Well, the worst case is the one I mentioned a second ago. The worst case is the thing you're looking for is much bigger than the biggest, or is bigger at all than the biggest thing in the list, in which case you have to go through every single thing and walk off the end of the list to know, yeah, my target's not in there. So in the worst case, I'm still in. All right. Now again, all of this comes with a cost. We do have a better best case scenario, but we have to have a sorted list. Now, if the list sorting is not free, sorting is actually quite expensive. And we will talk about sorting algorithms later in the semester. Sorting has a cost associated with it. And then sometimes you can't sort things, right? Especially if you have a list like Imagine in Python, you can have a list with mixed types. You can have a list that has ints and floats and strings and whatever else in them. You can't sort that list because there's no way of saying a string is less than an integer. It just doesn't make sense. It's literally comparing apples to oranges there, okay? So that's the concept of sequential search. So what do I want you to understand? Understand how sequential search works, right? That's pretty easy, I think. Understand also how the smart sequential search improves upon sequential search and what must be true about the list in order for that to work, okay? Next video, we are going to talk about binary search. Now, binary search is a whole different animal. It is a very clever algorithm. It looks very different. And actually, it does better than Big O event. So it is going to be our first algorithm that performs better than Big O event. We'll talk about that in the next video.


Hey everybody, welcome back to Magic Residoxy. My name is David and this is the deck review. Hey, today we're going to look at the Liberty playing cards from Jackson Robinson and playing cards.net. All right, so what are the Liberty playing cards? Originally, this was a Kickstarter project. It was a Kickstarter project from playingcards.net. They hired Jackson Robinson to design this deck. There was a couple of them released. There was the red, the blue, and there was like a special edition that was in a gold case. The ad copy says that this deck is perfect for poker nights with the traditional style and a modern touch. This deck I purchased from PenguinMagic.com and I was a little late to the Kickstarter and now I'm kind of sad about it and I'll tell you why. Originally when the Kickstarter was released, the first run of these cards were printed from expert playing cards and I would assume they were great because expert makes great cards. This deck now, if you buy the second release, these are printed from Liberty playing cards which is out here in Arlington, Texas and I would say that the card quality is subpar. The tuck case is done in a red, dark red, and white and it's all wrapped around single color. The front of the tuck case says Liberty playing cards and you have the arm holding the torch very similar to the Statue of Liberty. It says Liberty back, Libertas, and standard. Both sides left and right of the tuck case says Liberty playing cards Arlington, Texas. The bottom has some ad copy about playingcards.net. The top of the tuck case says poker size and there is no tuck seal which is nice and the back design of course is the back design of the cards. The tongue flap is very small and kind of in my opinion very cheap looking. It says Libertas right there and it has a little wing. That is pretty much it for the tuck case. Let's take a look at these cards. These cards are printed from the Liberty playing card company out here in Arlington, Texas and they are done on a souvenir feel stock. They are definitely a paper feel, paper stock. When you measure these with the caliper they come to 2.88. 2.88 is about the same as the red core, the red wheel, the gold artifice, blue steel, and the Westminster deck. However they are not even close to the same quality. I'm going to show you a couple of different spread attempts across the table and right out of the box they clump. This is a clumpy deck. There is barely an impression on the top or bottom. It's just really cheap paper. They stick together. This is a subpar feeling deck. I would get this deck maybe for camping or to practice. I don't know what I would practice with these. I would give these to my kid to play with. The only reason I got them was because I love Jackson Robinson. I love his art and so I didn't get a chance to pick up these decks when they were new and I really wanted to. Probably should have kicked myself for not doing it right. Hindsight is 20-20 but what can you do? I picked them up thinking maybe if they're good then I'll get the blue ones. I got the red ones and I thought I'll see how well they are and then if they're any good I'll get the blue ones but I wouldn't get the blue ones now at this point. With this deck you're going to get three Liberty Bell Jokers, one red, one blue, and one black. Your ace of spades is big and beautiful. It has the large spade pip there in the center with the hand holding the torch and it says Liberty playing card company across the top designed by Jackson Robinson. Your pips and indices will all have a completely standard feel making them perfect for gameplay. Your court cards are all going to be completely original and redrawn by Jackson Robinson who is a renowned playing card illustrator and always puts out exceptional work. It does kind of have an old retro arcotype feel and I think it helps blend with the theme of the deck. Well that's really all I can say about the Liberty playing cards. It's kind of a shame because you know I appreciate Jackson Robinson's work and I've always liked previous attempts from playingcards.net. I just wish they had picked a better printer, maybe used a better stock. These cards are really sub par in comparison with a lot of what is out on the market today. Alright so that's my review for the Liberty back version 2 playing cards from playingcards.net and Liberty playing cards. As always we ask that you like this video just so other people can find it faster. We also ask that you subscribe to this channel just so that you can stay up to date on the latest in cards and card magic. If you want to follow me on social media you can. I'm at facebook.com slash magic orthodoxy twitter.com slash magic orthodoxy instagram.com slash magic underscore orthodoxy and if you ever need more content you can always find it at magicorthodoxy.com. Thanks, bye!


Cut. That's great. Let's take a break, everybody. Hi. My name is Amy Breneman. You might remember me as Amy Gray, a juvenile court judge in the television show, Judging Amy. I had the pleasure of sharing stories that showed just how critical advocating for children can be. But I first learned about child advocates from my mother, Friedricha Breneman, a real juvenile court judge. In many ways, the show was based on her work. I was three years old when my mother became a judge. Throughout my childhood, I heard my mother talk about the problems that children in the justice system face. She taught me that the most critical factor in navigating that system is the child's lawyer. Because a child who is involved in the system has one spokesperson, one advisor, and one champion, her lawyer.  Developing a relationship with your child client is vital and requires the greatest care a lawyer can give. You have to establish rapport, build trust, explain roles, and most importantly, help the child understand her own rights and responsibilities. Of course, those are steps required in any attorney-client relationship, but doing it successfully with children requires extra care on your part. You are taking an important step, representing your child clients just by watching this video. The American Bar Association section of litigation has put together this video in order to assist you to develop the skills that are crucial when interviewing children. You'll hear from experienced attorneys about the techniques that they use with their own child clients. And you'll see examples of those techniques and principles and practice. While we are focusing on child welfare and juvenile justice representation, remember, the skills presented here are applicable in any setting between a lawyer and child client. Thank you for taking the time to watch this video, and thank you for your work with children. The key to successfully representing a child is how you approach the child interview. Interviewing a child client presents a unique set of challenges. Children who come into the court system haven't been treated well by a lot of adults in their lives.  So that we have to remember that perspective, we need to be empathic, we need to put ourselves in their shoes, and we have to work on making this a process that children understand and can participate in. This video provides examples of successful methods of achieving these goals as you interview a child. We'll be discussing the skills and concepts behind relationship building, roles and responsibilities, communication tools, and successful interview techniques. Relationship building. Building a solid relationship based on trust is essential in the interview process. Good morning, James. I'm Laurie. We spoke briefly on the phone the other day. This starts with the first meeting. A child needs to be comfortable with his advocate, both personally and professionally. When you meet a person, and a client is a person, the first thing you have to do is demonstrate genuinely that you're focused on that person and you care about that person. Trust and rapport between a child and an attorney allows you to represent them in a way that brings their voice to the courtroom. What are you reading about? Kids who come into the system are accustomed to, unfortunately, interacting with adults often in negative ways. They've often had negative experiences with adults, and I've worked with kids who've been involved in the system who've said to me, when I see you walk into the room, to me, you're just another adult that I don't think I can trust. While gathering information, the first meeting should focus on building trust and establishing rapport. While gathering information, it is important to be engaged, but not too invasive. Start with simple questions that allow the child to get comfortable with you. Seat yourself so you can make eye contact with the child, but are not invading their space. And allow the child plenty of time to think about and respond to the questions. Do you feel like talking today? Yes. Where would you like to talk? Wherever. Would you like to stay in the house or do you want to go outside? I would like to stay in the house. Okay. That sounds great. Children that we meet who have been abused and neglected do have a hard time developing trust. And so that first meeting can be assured as 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. And that's okay. Let the rapport build naturally. This can take time. You might save the tougher topics for the second meeting. So, what do you think of this place? It's alright. It's alright? It's the best place I lived, but I miss being home. Miss being home? I do. Demonstrate to the child that you are willing to take the time Do you have any of your favorite things here with you? Nope. I had a notebook that I used to write things down in. Did you write every day? I tried to. Well, that's pretty important. Do you know where it is? Maybe I can go get it for you? It should be in my room at my old foster home. If someone didn't take it, or throw it away. Why don't I go talk to your case worker and see if she can pick it up for you? Don't let her read it. Well, I'll do what I can, but I can't make any promises right now. Building trust includes keeping promises. So, never make promises you can't keep. They don't know you.  You may not share their background. You may not share their culture. That a child knows that when you say you will do it is crucial. So many of the kids that we represent have been disappointed by adults, and so your way of showing, demonstrating that you're different is by following through. There are many things you can't control as a lawyer, and the best judgment you can make is recognizing what promises you can keep and what promises you can't. For example, you may want to assure this child that his journal will not be read, but a case worker may have already obtained a journal. Be aware of any threat to the careful building of a trusting relationship with your client. You must build a strong relationship with your client. That relationship will be the foundation for all other successful strategies you put to use. Key elements include building rapport first, starting with safe questions to engage the child, positioning yourself to make eye contact and tougher topics for later meetings, and always keeping your promises. Roles and responsibilities The roles of the attorney and other court professionals can be complicated legal concepts, especially for children. An early interview in your relationship should aim to explain your role as the child's advocate. How are you doing? I'll leave you guys to talk. Within 72 hours of a child being involved the child's met anywhere from 5 to 15 different people. Each of them having a different role. Each of them asking probably the same or similar questions. Distinguishing your role as their attorney is a difficult but important task. It is different from a guardian at Lightham. You must make sure the child understands her relationship with you. Do you know why I asked to come see you today? I think so. Can you tell me?  Do you know what that means? Not really. Well, you're right. I am a lawyer. I am a lawyer who represents children. I make arguments to the judge for you. I argue for what you want to have happen.  No. Well, let me try to explain all the things that I can try to do for you. Remember that lawyers may have different roles in different jurisdictions. In some places, lawyers must follow what the child wants. This may be termed their expressed wishes. In other locales and in certain types of cases, the lawyer must advocate for the child's best interests. Still other jurisdictions may require that a lawyer combine these roles. In this example, the lawyer is appointed in the Child Protection Court under the expressed wishes standard to explain his role in contrast to that of the judge. The judge's job is to decide what's best for you. And to do that, she has to learn what's good for you. Now, one of the things she'll consider is what you want. It is my job to tell her what she want and she considers that too. She decides what's good for me. Yes. How does she know what's good for me? That's a good question, Carrie. Uh, she doesn't know what's good or best for you right now. That's why she'll talk with all of the lawyers, including me, your lawyer, before making her decision. To do the best job I can, I want to get to know you. And you can get to know me, and while we're getting to know each other, we'll talk about the things that are important to you. Does that make sense to you? I guess. Then we will decide what to tell her we think is best for you. We will tell her what you want. Okay. It's a question of modifying how you explain the court and the court system in a way that they can comprehend. You see in their eyes, you see it, how they might move, you see how their attention is gauged or not. In addition to your role, you must explain the roles of the other adults that will affect what happens to the child in court. Now, I want to explain to you the role of the court and the people in the court. It's important that you understand who everyone is and how he or she can affect you in your case, okay? My probation officer will be there? Yes, but it can be confusing about who's where, so I've drawn a picture to show where everyone will be when we get back to court. You want to come over and take a look at it? Okay. So, I'm a pretty bad artist, huh? Mm-hmm. Well, this is supposed to show where everyone is going to be in the courtroom. Do you know who this is? The judge. Exactly. Now, the judge has many responsibilities in the court. The judge is the main person who makes decisions about what happens to you. The first thing... Roles and responsibilities must not just be explained to a child. A lawyer must teach her client these concepts. Depending on the child's age and cognitive abilities, that explanation may take different forms. I work for you. You're the client. You know whether we go to trial, and you and I work together to decide what witnesses we want to call, what information we want to give the judge. We work as a team.  Are you like a public defender? I want it a real lawyer. I... I am a real lawyer. I want to get to know you and your case. We have to work together. Are you okay with that? I think so. The rules of your locale will affect whether communications are confidential. As you explain your role, you also need to explain important rules like the attorney-client privilege. Well, because I'm your lawyer, I have to follow special rules. What you and I say to each other is private. I'm not allowed to tell anyone else unless you say it's okay. What do you think about that? You can't tell anyone what I say. Mm-mm. You aren't allowed to tell anyone what their clients tell them. It's called the attorney-client privilege. Does that make sense? I think so. Well, I want to make sure you understand. Can you explain it back to me? Well, whatever we say is between you and me. Mm-hmm. In addition to explaining the lawyer's role and the lawyer-client relationship, a lawyer must show that he will help the client both inside and outside the courtroom. The other thing I do as your lawyer is I will share information with you about the court and what happens there. I will explain information about your case, like what you can expect to happen in your court hearings, how your mother is doing about your brother, and I need you to tell me things that you know. You think you can share your thoughts and feelings? Maybe. I know you miss your family a lot, Carrie, and I'm sure you're wondering about them and we'll talk about how they're doing and we'll also talk about how you're doing here in your new foster home and in school. I miss my mom. Well, I do have some information about your mom. Explaining roles and responsibilities is a way to continue to build your relationship with your child-client. Explain all roles and relationships. Introduce all decision-makers. Explain important rules like the attorney-client privilege and mandatory reporting. And know the laws of your jurisdiction. Communication tools. As you're building a relationship with a child and explaining roles and legal concepts, you need to make sure that you are using the most effective tools to communicate clearly with your client. Well, I think it's good lawyering in general to keep it straightforward. You know, sometimes lawyers think that to be professional, we have to use the bigger words and the more complicated, convoluted sentences. And I don't think that's good lawyering in general. You're going to be changing the way you're communicating based on the age of that client, based on the situation of that client, based on what that client's been through that day. So when you're dealing with a young person, you're constantly modifying how you're communicating. I've told you that you have a lawyer on your side. That's me. Your brother will also have a lawyer because he was arrested for the same thing. Shorty was arrested too? Pay special attention to language in a child interview, both yours and the child's. Use words and phrases that are clear and age-appropriate. And use the child's terms for people and things. You call Ricky Shorty? Uh-huh. Yes. Shorty was arrested too. That's why he'll have a lawyer to help him just like you have me. Make sense? Yeah, but Shorty didn't do anything either. That's why you have a lawyer and Shorty has a lawyer too. I think it's important first to recognize that children are not simply small adults, that children go through developmental stages, and that those developmental stages affect their ability to understand what we say to them. I think when we represent kids, we've got to pay attention and use age-appropriate language and talking with them. And that does not mean talking to every 15, 16, and 17-year-old like they're a baby. It means listening, paying attention, and being flexible to use the language that they're capable of using and capable of understanding. You know how I told you that it's my job to tell the court your story? Yeah, like how the cop said, I hit Oscar in the fight and all. That's right. There'll also be another lawyer on the other side, the prosecutor. It's the prosecutor's job to tell another story. He'll tell the judge why he thinks you did this and how you should be punished. The prosecutor is a lawyer, but he doesn't work for you. He works against us on our case.  Uh, he's another lawyer? Yes. Who side is the prosecutor on? He's on my side. Oh, no, never mind.  That's right. Now, there will be other people in the courtroom, too, so I want you to know who they are. By avoiding legal jargon and confirming the child's understanding of his explanations, this lawyer is ensuring that he is communicating in a way that his client can understand. I always think of communication as being the burden of the lawyers, not the child. So you have to find a way to communicate and use the language that that child will understand. It is difficult for anyone to admit that they don't understand something to a stranger. That is no different for a teen or child. It is critical that you take the lead in creating a safe environment for the child to ask questions. Do you understand what I mean by a right to remain silent? I think so. And tell me in your words what a right to remain silent means. It means I don't have to talk if I don't want to, and that I can have my lawyer tell me whether or not I should talk. What about a police officer? Do you have to talk to him? Well, I can't be rude, so I just tell them my name and address and nothing else if I don't want to. That's right. If you have any questions about that or anything else about your case, will you please ask me? Yes. Great. Ask. Just be honest and say, you know, did you understand? And giving them a safe space in which to say, I didn't understand.  If you don't understand what I'm saying, just tell me. Children need to come to sharing information in their own time. Don't be afraid of silence. If a child needs some time before talking, follow the child's lead. And I'm glad that you like muffins. It gives me a chance to treat myself too. The last time I was here, you said you were going to move in with your grandmother. Yep. That sounds like a plan. What happened? I don't want to talk about it. What would you like to talk about? I don't want to talk anymore. I'm done talking. Children need to know that you will be comfortable giving them the opportunity to share information when they are ready. Patients will go a long way in building trust. What a mess I've made. Oh, my. Why don't I clean this up? And then we can start talking again. Okay. It is your responsibility as the lawyer to help the child understand what is happening during their case. Use developmentally appropriate words and sentences. Avoid legal jargon. Use words your client would use for people and things. And don't be afraid to allow for silence during your interview. Let the child take the lead on when they are ready to share information. Successful interview techniques. By the time a lawyer appears in court, the lawyer needs to have gathered enough information to be able to try the case. To gather information effectively and clearly, you must plan the interview in advance and consider the strategies that best fit the child client, the case, and the relationship between the child and the attorney. There's always a conflict between the attorney having a list of things they want to find out and the child's interest in really just finishing this conversation because it's riddled with so much anxiety for them. There are some simple techniques that a lawyer can use when interviewing a child client. The first technique is called child-centered interviewing. You have to be empathetic. You have to be focused on the client, and you have to demonstrate that. We really have to start where the client is. We have to begin the conversation where they are. When practicing child-centered interviewing, start with basic relationship-building questions to encourage your child client to open up and share his concerns. Use active listening techniques. Acknowledge your client's feelings and concerns through supportive words or gestures. You can then encourage more productive communication by addressing your client's concerns before continuing with the interview. Well, listen, I want to talk to you about the meeting we're going to have about your special classes. What do you think about your new school? I don't like it. It's too hard. Well, what makes it hard? I don't know. The other kids seem to be further ahead than me. They do? Yeah, that's how it feels. Well, that must be hard for you. How long have you been at this school? Since I moved in with my new foster parents. And how's that going? Okay, but I really miss my brother. I want to be with him. I don't know how he got to be at Grandma's, and they put me here. I mean, I like my foster parents, but I want to be with my family. Well, I can tell your family's important to you. Maybe we can make arrangements for a visit and phone calls with your brother and grandma. But I don't know her number. Well, I can get that for you and make the arrangements, okay? Okay. Now, let's talk about what you want to have happen at that meeting, okay? Okay. Not all children can articulate their needs clearly.  When did it all start? It was like a month ago, me and my brother were staying with our foster mom, dear Jeff, and there was another kid there named Oscar, and he always got to go home, and he had just come from an overnighter with his mother, and he didn't go to school that day because he said he didn't feel good. Sounds like you're upset that Oscar always gets to go home, and you don't. How about if I talk to your social worker about a visit with your mom, okay? This lawyer recognized his client's concern about getting time with her mother. A child-centered interviewer will always be an active listener. He will identify concerns and address them first in order to allow the child to then focus on the subject of the interview. You can use an interviewing method called the funnel technique to encourage the child to give their account of what happened and to develop facts important to the case. Asking open-ended questions, letting the kid run with it, and then following up with narrow questions, and I find it to be extremely effective. In the first stage of the funnel technique, the lawyer allows the child to tell the story uninterrupted. In the second stage, the lawyer asks open-ended questions to further develop facts. In the third stage, the lawyer confirms facts through a series of narrow, close-ended questions. Here's an example of the first stage where the lawyer allows his client to speak uninterrupted. So why don't you tell me what happened when Oscar got hit? There was one particular game we all wanted to play, which was called WrestleMania. And you throw the person in a body slam by throwing them onto the floor. And then, like, I let them tell me the story at least once, if not more times, all the way through without my asking any questions.  But it also begins to reveal to you their view, where they're sitting in this whole narrative, in this whole story, their perspective on it, what's important to them. Stage two of the funnel technique is your chance to track back through the story using open-ended questions starting with who, what, where, when, why, and how to clarify the story and continue to develop facts. Okay. So let's go over that again slowly so I can understand each part. When did it all start? It was, like, a month ago. Me and my brother were staying with our foster mom, Deirdre. And you know we had seen a show on TV called WrestleMania. Oh, what's WrestleMania? WrestleMania is when you throw the person in a body slam by throwing them onto the floor. Tell me more about that. Does it hurt? No, because we had put pillows down on top of the rug that was in the room. So when you fell down, it didn't really hurt that much. And we were all doing it to each other. I mean, Oscar was doing it too, so... Yeah?  And that was it. And the police came. What did Shorty do with the bat? He had poked Oscar in the stomach with it. Poked? Yeah, poked. And what happened to Oscar? Well, Oscar sort of fell down holding his stomach crying. Can you show me what Shorty did? Yeah, he picked up a bat and said, we had threw me down too hard and he poked him in the stomach with it. Well, how soon? Open-ended questions just allow the child to tell you what's most important to him. What did the child notice and observe? Stage three of the funnel technique takes place deeper into the client relationship. The lawyer has already heard each of the following facts from the child and is using narrow questions to reconfirm and clarify the facts that are most legally relevant to the case. Did they leave you in that room? Yes. Did they leave you in there for a long time? Yes. How long? It felt like forever, maybe a few hours. Did they feed you? No. Did they let you see your mom? No. They didn't? No. Never? Well, later after they wrote the statement. Did you give the statement? Did you tell them things and they wrote them down? Yes. Why? I don't know. Because I didn't think they would let me out of there. What happened after they wrote it down? They finally let me see my mom.  Yes. How did you know that? That's what they told me. That's the only reason I signed the statement. They said I had to sign it to see my mom. An attorney would never be this directive with a child client early in the relationship or with facts she did not already confirm in an open question format. Directive questioning too early in the process could cause a child to assent to a statement that he did not believe to be true in an effort to please his lawyer or simply avoid confrontation. What would happen when the police came in the room to talk to you? They were talking and asking me questions. Asking about what? All kinds of stuff about what happened. What did they ask you? They asked me to say I did it. How did they ask you? They weren't really asking, I guess. They were telling me I had to. The narrow questions then are important for you to get the details that you need as a lawyer. You know what's important.  These conversations should only take place after you have built rapport and trust with your client. Address the issues directly and be truthful with your client. Allow the child to react emotionally and then help them to focus on the topic at hand. What brought them there is something that either frustrates them, angers them, embarrasses them. It instills a lot of emotions that don't help generate a productive interview. When you know there's going to be an issue discussed that's difficult for a child, I feel that that is a moment of great delicacy and I think it's a moment of great respect for the child. And I think that you call the ball on that. You say, I realize this is difficult to talk about. Jessica, I wanted to talk to you about the court hearing that's coming up next week. Will my mom be there? I hope so, but I don't know whether she'll attend. She'll get something in the mail telling her when the hearing is. I think you know, Jessica, that your mom has not been doing well lately. She left the drug treatment program and she may be doing drugs again. Just because she left the drug program doesn't mean she's using drugs again. She wants to get me back.   But your mother has been using drugs for many years and it's very hard for people who use drugs to stop using it.  I know this is hard. Please remember I'm on your side. I have a couple more things to tell you, okay? Jessica, I have to tell you that at tomorrow's hearing your social worker will report to the court that your mother's last drug screen from two weeks ago came back positive. Jessica. You're lying. My mom wouldn't do that to me. I would not lie to you. I know this is upsetting and it must be very hard for you to talk about. Jessica, I know you'd prefer to change the subject, but it's very important that we talk about this now because it may change what you and I tell the judge at tomorrow's hearing. I want to go home. I told you this before, but you're not listening to me. I know you have told me. I will tell the judge you want to go home, but the judge may not agree. If the judge says no, do you have a second choice about where you'd like to live? Let's talk about it. This lawyer faced a tough conversation in a straightforward and truthful way. By giving your client a chance to react emotionally, you can then help her to focus on what to do about the situation. Techniques that can lead to a successful interview include practicing child-centered interviewing. Be an active listener. Acknowledge the child's feelings and respond to the child's concerns. The funnel technique can help you get more complete information. Let the child tell their story without interruption. Ask open-ended questions. Then follow up with more detailed questions. And when discussing difficult topics, be sure to build trust first. Be direct and truthful and allow the child to react emotionally before guiding them back to the discussion. Building relationships, explaining roles and responsibilities, using communication tools effectively, and applying sound interview techniques can help you work successfully with your young clients.  Thank you for being my lawyer. Children involved in the justice system may be facing a time of significant crisis in their lives. It is essential that you, their lawyers, are the best advocates you can be. The strategies in this video will help you guide your client successfully through our system of justice. On behalf of the young clients you serve and the justice systems you help improve, thank you for the work that you do for children.