Real trial lawyers must be managers in that trial work is always collaborative. And I’ve written before that we vain lawyers like to think that we win cases with the “a-ha” moments or our super wonderful cleverness, when, in fact, it’s hard work more than anything else that wins cases.
But it is more good teamwork and more than simply the hours you put in that gets fantastic results for clients. You need to think expansively about solutions and the means to win. Real trial lawyers do not manage litigation, and aren’t just good team members, but imaginative so that they win disputes.
This point was made clear to me recently when dealing with lawyers (one on our side in one case, another on the other side in another case) who clearly were professional and hardworking and well-credentialed and all that nonsense. But when dealing with these lawyers, I felt like they were reading from the specific chapter and verse of a thick pamphlet entitled “How To Litigate the X Type of Case.” The proposals and actual actions these lawyers took were so formulaic. No one would say that they were crazy or wrongheaded. And I don’t care that no one would say that they’re clever (Tyler Durden sums up my view on being clever). But there was no imagination and it hurt their respective positions.
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The important point is that you don’t bring real value to your clients if you simply manage the litigation, but, instead, are creative as well in that litigation. If you just say to yourself, “OK, I’m past the pleadings, so I guess now I serve some demands and notice depositions,” you might avoid, sort of, losing for your clients. But you won’t win for them, or, at least, if you’re honest, you won’t win as big or as decisively or as quickly as you could.
You win for your clients when you devote the hard work I’ve extolled, and working well with your colleagues, and you also think creatively and expansively: What really is the best solution for your clients, as broadly defined as possible? And what legal and tactical and creative resources do you have to achieve those goals? In my example above, do those demands make sense? Why? What do you seek? Who do you depose?
Don’t be clever. But to win for your clients marry that effort and teamwork to that creativity.
John 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 [email protected].