On the phone with the client:
"I see in the written spec you want the middle name field required when filling out the form. I'm not sure that's a good idea since many people don't have middle names. When they submit the form it's going to prompt for the middle name when they've left it blank."
"We need the form to be complete. We have to have the middle names. Program it to be required."
"And it'll be okay if they're prompted to input a middle name when they don't have one and leave the field blank? I suppose the validation dialog could ask them if they have a middle name if that's acceptable."
"No, not really."
"I'm not sure how to handle this then."
"Make the middle name field required only if they have one."