The second step in positive change is diagnosing the Problem. If you get the Problem wrong, you will only get the solution right by accident. Although PTE (Post Trial Exhaustion) and financial insecurity had caused me to recognize that I had a Problem, I knew that neither was the Problem itself, they were only symptoms [...]
All positive change begins with the recognition of a problem. A problem is an adverse circumstance that can and must be changed. If it can’t be changed, it’s not a problem but rather a condition that a person just has to learn to live with. Likewise, if it’s an adverse circumstance that could be changed, [...]
Trying cases before juries you come to realize that it’s not a good idea to appear to be too darn smart. Particularly when you are still young (say, less than forty), most jurors don’t want some smart guy making them feel even more miserable about their jury duty by rubbing their faces in his big [...]
I was in college when Prince’s song “1999” came out. At that point, the next millennium being seventeen years in the future, it was way too far away for my then nineteen year old brain to fathom. But those seventeen years went by really quickly. Before I knew it I was a thirty-six year old [...]
Unless you come from a family of lawyers or had happened to work in a law firm before you went to law school, all you would know of lawyers when you graduated would come from law school professors because they would be the only lawyers you would have known. That’s the way it was for [...]
The Litigator advances toward Trial to resolve Disputes Litigation is the process of advancing a Claim toward Trial so that Judgment can be rendered. Its purpose is to enable Litigators to resolve Disputes, which are the intractable legal controversies between parties. Above all, it is Resolution (and nothing else) that should be the objective, primary [...]
Prior inconsistent statements, external evidence and logic are the three primary sources of Impeachment material While the primary purpose of Cross is to blunt the effect of a hostile witness’ testimony about Facts and Issues (Doubt Casting), the Litigator will sometimes use Cross to gather evidence that he needs to meet his own burden of [...]
The jury instructions provide the footings for the building of an effective Cross An excellent Cross is focused tightly on the material facts (Facts) in dispute. A Fact is only material if it bears directly on an Issue that must be decided to resolve the overall controversy—otherwise, it is immaterial. The Litigator should not waste [...]
Cross, Close and Counsel are the three essential skills of the Litigator Performing cross-examination (Cross) is one of the Three-C’s that the Litigator must do with excellence if he wants to be an excellent trial attorney. The other two C’s are deliver the closing argument (Close) and counsel the client (Counsel) . If you break [...]
The Litigator must be a Counselor Counsel is the third of the Three-C’s—those essential skills that a Litigator must do with excellence if he wants to be an excellent trial attorney. The first C is Cross, which is the conduct of a cross-examination during a jury trial. The purpose of Cross is twofold—first, to call [...]
