Think Broadly Of Your Goals When In Court

When thinking about what your goals are in court you must think expansively. Don’t limit yourself.

lawyer litigator judge courtroom motion argumentTime before a judge or arbitrator is precious. Don’t limit your goals from such time in court and do all you can to advance those goals. 

As trial lawyers, we spend an enormous amount of our hours and days on what at times seems like a fairly small amount of work product. I worked this week with a colleague on a mere 15-page reply brief we will file in an appeal. Our client probably reviewed the brief in less than 20 minutes (indeed, I hope it will be a breezy read for the appellate judges). But professionals at our firm combined spent at least 50 hours on it. That’s the way it goes, even if our clients have no idea how much time we spend on creating work product.

Most lawyers acknowledge that when it comes to written product it’s going to take a lot of time to get it right. Yet, I find that few lawyers also appreciate how much time we must spend in preparing for, and making the most of, that precious time in front of a judge or arbitrator. I could write a lot on that, but I focus here on one thing: the need to spend the time deciding what goals to seek and how to achieve those goals.

Determining your goals may seem obvious — if you’re in court opposing a motion to compel well, then, isn’t the goal to have the motion denied. Yes, but that’s not enough. What else can you get from that court appearance?  Is it a legitimate and possible goal to inform the court about continuing misconduct by your adversary which only ended in, but is hardly completely addressed, by this motion?  Is it a worthy goal to feel out the court’s sense of a new development in the case, even if you need to go out of your way to bring up that development?  Is this the first time before this adversary such that a goal is simply feeling out how she handles herself and her command of the issues?

The point is that when thinking about what your goals are in court you must think expansively. Don’t limit yourself. Think of every possible benefit you can obtain from the client in court and refuse which of those are legitimate and at all obtainable.

Then prepare. If you want to get the sense of the court’s view on a new legal development, make sure you know the new law. Have copies of relevant authority available for the court and your adversary. Know your judge — if doing this will tick her off, don’t do this — but if you’re not sure at least be willing to push this a little bit. But don’t just have the idea; do the prep work. You may be in court for 10 minutes but it may take 10 hours or longer to prepare.

Real trial lawyers know not only that time before a court is precious, but that we can advance many goals during that precious time. Be broad in your thinking. And spend the time in preparation to advance those goals to help your client win.

Sponsored


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.

Sponsored