Poor chess players only think ahead one or two moves. Good chess players think ahead five or six moves. Grandmasters think through every move to checkmate and back, and to checkmate again. Likewise, poor lawyers only think about the next move or two, good lawyers think several moves ahead, and great lawyers think through every move to a win. The best lawyers think about every action and reaction, not just with opposing counsel, but with the opposing party, the judge, one’s own client, every witness, and every exhibit. And they think about how they’ll react, what they will do in turn, how these actions will create new reactions, and so on.
To think through a case to the end and back, you have to put yourself in the shoes of everyone else in the case and evaluate how they would reasonably and likely react to your actions and what actions of their own they’ll likely initiate. If you were opposing counsel, what would you do? What themes would you rely on? What would be your legal theories? What discovery would you conduct? What experts would you retain? What questions would you ask in a deposition? If you were the judge, how would you evaluate the facts? Interpret the law? Rule on your potential motions? If you were the opposing party, how would you define a win? What would you resolve or settle the case for? This exercise helps you figure out what to expect and how to direct your case to consider these possible actions when directing your case toward a favorable resolution.
I often ask the following questions when thinking through a case: so we do X, then what? What happens next? How will the other side likely respond? What actions will they likely take, independent of what we do? And how should we react? And then? And then? And so on.
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In other words, you are sitting at the edge of the chessboard. All the pieces are waiting to be moved. And you think through your initial moves, and theirs, your intermediate moves and theirs, and your final moves and theirs. And in doing this, you’ll be better able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your case and theirs. Not defining a win (and a loss) and failing to think through to the end of how to achieve your goals often results in mistakes, overlooking opportunities, and a shotgun (rather than rifle) approach. This haphazard approach may lead to victory, but if it does, it’s mainly by luck, accident, or due to opposing counsel thinking about their case even less than you.
Strategic planning doesn’t just apply to firms, companies, and one’s own life. This approach applies to each of our cases, and taking a strategic approach results in more efficient litigation, better work product, and improved outcomes.
Sit down with your team and brainstorm each step in your case. If you don’t have a team, play chess with yourself and think through all the moves. Consider using an AI large language model (LLM) to brainstorm all the steps from beginning to end. However you approach the process, it is essential to think through it and constantly re-evaluate, because cases are organic and surprises will occur, requiring a change of plans and approaches. This constant evaluation and reevaluation will change how you move the pieces on the board and help you achieve checkmate.
And consider taking up chess. You’ll appreciate the importance of thinking ahead and how to do so.
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Frank Ramos is a partner at Goldberg Segalla in Miami, where he practices commercial litigation, products, and catastrophic personal injury. You can follow him on LinkedIn, where he has about 80,000 followers.