|
Common Sense Rules of Advocacy for Lawyers
Rule 20 Commit to Being an Excellent
Trial Lawyer. Don't Do Anything by Halves. If You Can't Dedicate
Yourself to This, Move Over and Do Something Else.
| Rule 20 Commit to Being an Excellent
Trial Lawyer. Don't Do Anything by Halves. If You Can't Dedicate
Yourself to This, Move Over and Do Something Else. |
If you do commit to it, if you honestly admit to yourself that this is
what you want to do and do really well, then the chances are high
you'll turn out to be really good. All the other practical rules of
persuasion and advocacy are subordinate to this one.
You all have law degrees: you all passed the bar exam. By definition,
you are some of the most intelligent people in society. If you really
and truly dedicate yourself to becoming a first-class trial lawyer, it
is almost certain you will succeed. If you don't do this, you will
never be better than second-rate.
I don't need to say much more about this practical rule of
wholehearted commitment. But I do have two comments on it,
observations that may be less obvious to Americans than to those who
have also practiced in other countries.
First is this fact. In the United States, you have a body of
literature devoted to advocacy, and trial work generally, that is
unique in the world of law. No other country even begins to compare.
There are practice books here which spell out, line by line, how to
pick a jury, how to cross-examine experts, how to frame objections. They give
you the actual words to use. Then there are tapes for your car, videos
for your home, all designed to show you how to do it. Don't, I beg of
you, ignore this gold mine. Get into the habit of browsing in these
books, sampling these tapes. Advocacy is far more than a trade, a
craft, an art. It can become a way of life. Try to read just a little
about advocacy every day. A paragraph is enough: just read something
every day.
But beware of one thing. Don't become the slave to anything you read.
You will find bad advice as well as good out there, and you'll learn
as much from identifying the bad as you will from recognizing and
adopting the good. If you take in and keep thinking about the
principles discussed in this book, and bear them in mind as you go
prospecting in this rich American gold mine, you'll know gold when you
find it. Be critical. And remember that you don't need to imitate
anybody. Set out to be your own kind of advocate. Don't be afraid of
being individual. Read as widely as you can, but remember that you are
uniquely you. Know the rules, understand why they are important, then
do it your way.
And the second observation I want to make is this. If commitment to
advocacy generally is vitally important, so is commitment to the
individual case. And America is unique in this regard as well. The
quality of preparation that goes into a case here is more intensive and more thorough than anywhere else in the world. Sure, there are
exceptions, but as an overall American pattern, quality preparation is
the rule.
The system here provides the opportunity for intensive preparation--far
more so than is generally the case in England and the other common-law
countries. In England, preparation can quite literally be a matter of
reading your papers on the way to court, and there's a joke at the Old
Bailey that defending barristers often don't know what the trial is
about until they hear the prosecutor's opening. Like all jokes about
lawyers, it's got some truth in it.
But in America, even if the case is assigned by the court, proper
provision is almost always made for preparation. It will almost always
be paid for. And because the opportunity for preparation is available
to you, you have a duty to prepare intensively.
Prepare, and the rewards are guaranteed. You may not win your case,
but you will impress your judge and jury from first to last. Nothing
comes across more clearly. Obvious preparation, leading to a
meticulous knowledge of the case, shines all the way through and
always commands respect. Judges, asked what is the single most
important thing about advocacy, say, again and again, "preparation."
It's the best investment of them all. There's no substitute for
preparation, and lack of it is always found out.
If I am beginning to sound like a revivalist preacher, forgive me. But
this is a passionately important message. All American liberties
depend on the courts, and without a continuous supply of first-class
advocates these astonishing liberties, which are so much taken for
granted, are at risk. You are the generation whose skills are going to
protect those liberties: this is your duty and privilege. It is
your
commitment.
Let me bring you back to the concept of the courtroom as theater.
Focus on the courtroom as theater and a handful of practical rules
leap out at you. Let's look at what they are, let's examine some
obvious buzzwords. What should theater be? What does it involve?
Entertainment. Drama. A good storyline. Profound attentiveness from
the audience. Applause. A sense that the whole thing was worthwhile
doing, worthwhile having gone to. Good theater is satisfying, moving,
memorable. In good theater time never drags, the development of the
play never flags, the audience never gets bored.
That's enough. There are enough ideas there. Let's take these out of
the theater and across to the courtroom and see how our practical
rules appear.
One thing is blindingly obvious, isn't it? In the law court your
audience can't get up and leave.
They are in the truest sense captive. They aren't free to hiss and boo
you off the stage. They are obliged to sit there, and this means that
two things have to be borne in mind.
First: Although they are obliged to sit there, they are not obliged to
listen to you.
Second: Since you have a captive audience, you owe it to them to make
the trial as entertaining as you possibly can.
If you do make it entertaining, they'll listen to you. If you don't,
the listening they do will be done out of a sense of duty: it won't be
intent listening and it won't be sympathetic to you or your case.
Common Sense Rules of
Advocacy for Lawyers
By Keith Evans
$35
Plus shipping and handling (6% of order, $7.95 minimum).
Ships within 1 business
day
Hardbound: 264 pages
ISBN 10: 1587330059
ISBN 13: 978-1-58733-005-6
LCCN: 2003113147
OCLC: 56315474
Published 2004
Dimensions: 7.25 x 7.8 x
0.8
Weight: 1.2 pounds
Discount for bookstores and classroom use.
VA sales tax added when shipped to VA address.
Publication descriptions and Order form (10-page pdf)
Also see
URLs:
www.TheCapitol.Net/Publications/commonsenseSampSecRule20.html
www.RulesOfAdvocacy.com
Last updated:
May 07, 2008
|
