I can take it.
I'm a lawyer as well, and I have been a children's lawyer representing children.
Very often in a mediation process or a collaborative law process, there is somebody who speaks to the child separately, depending on the age of the child, and listens to what their concerns are—any particular wishes. It isn't that the child is deciding the outcome, but it is finding out something about the child's particular personality, their needs, their fears and concerns, and about things they think would be helpful to them.
It isn't lawyers that I say shouldn't interview children; it's judges. I think bringing a kid to the courtroom and having a judge take a few minutes in chambers with the child is a pretty frightening experience. It perhaps should be reserved for older children in a parent alienation case that is really high conflict.
I think that mental health professionals are the best ones to be trained to work with children. Interviewing a child as part of the process is really helpful. Almost every case settles almost immediately once there is somebody to reflect the child's concerns and interests to the parents.