Academic
What's Fair Here
A first consult that arrives as a spreadsheet. Custody, house, expenses, and a father who wants to know what's fair. Listen before you calculate.
- You
- Clinic Student (first consult, family desk)
- Across the table
- Vikas Anand, Client, Northline Consulting
He speaks first.
My wife is demanding custody, the house, and full expenses until our daughter turns 18. I want to know what's actually fair here.
The brief comes after you sign in.
The situation
He printed the numbers twice.
Vikas Anand arrives with a spreadsheet: custody, the house, the expenses. He wants to know what is fair. The folder is heavier than the question.
You are on the family desk for a first consult. Calculating before you have heard him is the fast way through the hour.
- He has already turned the marriage into a sheet.
- Fair, to him, may be a number.
- You have one first meeting.
The session
About twenty minutes.
You sign in with your email, read the brief, and have the conversation. A short reflection comes first. Then the coaching debrief, on what you did. The transcript stays with the session. You do not see a score.
- Email sign-in
- Coaching debrief
- Up to 24 turns
Before you start
What people ask.
Who am I in this conversation?
You're the clinic student on your first family desk consult. Vikas Anand is the father who walked in with numbers already sorted in rows. You get the full brief after you sign in.
Do I need family law experience to practise this?
No. The brief has his spreadsheet and stated priorities. You're practising client-centred counselling when the legal question isn't the first one he needs answered.
What do I leave with?
A transcript of what you actually said, and a coaching debrief on what it cost you. You answer a short reflection before that debrief appears. You do not see a score.
Can a team run the same scenario?
Yes. Each person gets their own conversation. A pilot is how a cohort starts: same brief, separate transcripts, one place for the programme lead to read them.