Don't Be A 'Designer'; Own The Nuts And Bolts

Lawyers like to think we are de Tocqueville’s priesthood of America -- and we are, but we still need to know and address the nitty-gritty.

Bolts and nutsLawyers like to think we are de Tocqueville’s priesthood of America. And we are, but we still need to know and address the nitty-gritty.

During a recent review of one of my colleagues, he noted that many of his adversaries don’t know how to handle ediscovery. And he wasn’t referencing solo attorneys two years out of law school. He was talking about partners at the so-called elite firms who had no idea what “native format” meant.

Mind you, my colleague and others at our firm try cases against the biggest firms and lawyers in the world (listed on those enjoyably named websites like SuperLawyer or, better yet, LawDragon). We litigate against the supposedly best of the best (but frequently beat them). The lawyers we encounter have the financial wherewithal to handle the monster that ediscovery management has become.

The problem is that many of those lawyers simply don’t want to get to know ediscovery. From the comments I hear, I think that many of these supposedly elite lawyers think that work is beneath them, or not really lawyer work.  That reminds me of a complaint an architect friend of mine recently made. She works on all kinds of residences and commercial properties and has even worked as the construction manager on her buildings, seeing them turn from a hole in the ground to an 18-story building. She shared with me that there are many architects who prefer to be “designers”: they want to grab the napkin and whip out a cool design for something in minutes, showing their visionary ways. But they don’t want to get down into the dirty details, figuring out where the electrical cables will go into the building from the street, where the toilets will flush out into the locality’s sewers, or where the power outlets will be in the bathrooms.

That’s like those lawyers who don’t want to know how to handle ediscovery—or those lawyers who don’t think of how demonstratives will work in a given courtroom, how their client will get from the airport to the place of deposition, or how to run a table of authorities. Yes, our work is a team sport, and you can (and should) delegate a lot of work. It often makes sense for lead lawyers on a team not to be the one to handle what I’m calling the nitty-gritty. But many lawyers are like those designers who want simply to write out the case idea or supposed winning argument on the back of a napkin and have no idea how things even work in ediscovery or how demonstratives are created.

You’re not going to be the best lawyer you can be and win for your clients unless you put aside your ego and make sure you learn how to handle all of that work, even if you don’t actually perform a given task in a given case.  Using the ediscovery example, you won’t know how to counsel clients regarding what to produce, or simply guide them through what is for most a bewildering process, if you don’t get down in the trenches. Hoping it gets done by vendors or lower-level staff doesn’t mean it will get done right. Spending what at times might be boring hours learning the details is what ensures it will get done right.

Every trial lawyer should want to win for the client. And that doesn’t mean just thinking strategically about client goals, or considering the tactical consequences of a given step in a case, or knowing the applicable law (though it certainly means all of those as well). It means knowing where the toilets will flush out—or the litigation equivalent—and being the all-around lawyer our clients need us to be.

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john-balestriereJohn Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

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