well the first thing it takes

if if if the client is looking for

someone to hire

is someone who has

significant trial experience already we

all had our first case

in our first cases

and i i remember those very vividly

and i did much better than i thought i

would do but i wouldn’t want to see a

client

entrust a significant trial to someone

who’s just beginning any more than

you would want to have heart surgery

with a surgeon who’s trying it for the

first time not a good idea

you want someone who has a lot of energy

why because there are aspects of trial

work long before you get to trial and

certainly through the time of trial

that are hellishly

difficult physically

uh you need to be in good shape and you

need to have a lot of energy you need to

be committed

you need to be tenacious

and at the same time as you as you are

committed and tenaciously trying to

achieve your clients goals

the great trial lawyers are always

mindful of the rules of ethics and will

not cross the line will not cross the

line clients don’t understand that in

many cases sophisticated clients do

those that aren’t so sophisticated

don’t worry about that

great trial lawyers do worry about that

the rules of ethics honesty integrity

professionalism make a huge difference

he or she is someone that the listener

feels

they can count on

they’re going to tell the truth they’re

going to be persuasive i can rely on

what this lawyer is saying the great

trial lawyer is a great analyst the

great trial lawyer can spot the

strengths and weaknesses of a case after

studying it enough

to know enough to be able to do that

and to be able to

position the case

so that it can be

won or

or in the worst case not lost as badly

as it might be

because

the strengths and weaknesses have been

accounted for realistically and that’s

all been discussed with the client long

before a jury is picked long before an

opening statement long before there’s a

trial the great

trial lawyer is a great storyteller the

great trial lawyer knows how to make i

do business in commercial cases and

intellectual property cases those can be

dull they don’t have to be dull drama

can be injected into any case

you tell a story non-fiction not fiction

uh but you can make it interesting you

can breathe life into it and a great

trial lawyer knows how to do that to

captivate the audience the great trial

lawyer has presence

personal presence in the courtroom the

best trial lawyers without being

offensive take over the courtroom when

they stand they’re always prepared they

tell the judge

where where we left off before the last

recess was taken there’s just a very

natural easy way

to do those kinds of things to take

command of the courtroom without being

at any time at any time overbearing the

great trial lawyer as i mentioned this

earlier is empathetic

he or she can feel

what the judge is feeling what witnesses

are feeling

what the jury is feeling and just

naturally connects with them and

shapes his or her

presentation in court

the great trial lawyer

is engaged in one of the most

people-centric activities on the planet

so he or she can relate to judges to

juries to witnesses to opposing counsel

and especially to the most difficult

witnesses who have to be cross-examined

and that gets to cross-examination it

has been called by many people the

greatest engine

uh for truth that was ever invented

and it is true a great trial lawyer

cannot be a great trial lawyer without

being a great cross examiner it makes

the difference between winning and

losing between success and failure the

great trial lawyer is able to manage his

or her own client

clients come with their own

personalities their own baggage we all

have baggage

and the great trial lawyer needs to spot

where potential problems are

in light of his client’s psychology or

her client’s psychology and manages that

works with the client so the client will

be the best possible witness

that

that the client is capable of being the

great trial lawyer is come under

pressure

he manages his anger if he ever gets

angry nobody knows it he manages his

anxiety or she does

if if he feels moments of anxiety the

great trial lawyer under pressure always

knows what the path forward is always

never loses sight of where the path is

going to take him

even as he or she remains flexible so

that you can roll with the surprises of

trial and there always are surprises

lastly

the greatest trial lawyers are genuinely

compassionate people and they respect

people without exception