Preface

• Jurisdiction: United States

Preface

In my first semester of college, I took Introduction to Psychology. I was fascinated by the subject. So fascinated that I took another psychology class the next semester. I was thinking that I might declare that I was majoring in the subject because I was very interested in why people thought and acted so differently. But, at some point during that second psychology course, I learned that a psychology major required a lot of statistical analysis. No thanks. I then started taking political science courses. And, again, I was thinking that I might declare that I was majoring in the subject because it explored the differences between people and what motivated them. But, I then learned that to major in the subject, I would have to learn how to do statistical analysis. (At the time, this involved feeding punch cards into a computer.) No thanks. I decided to follow my first love, which was music. And even though I earned my degree in music, with a minor in theater, I continued to take courses in sociology, philosophy, and speech communication that explored group dynamics, persuasion, logic, and how decisions were influenced by culture and other factors.

Like the high school star athlete who finds it more difficult to excel in college, and then faces the reality that he is not going to achieve great success in professional sports, a similar epiphany reached me as a musician. Some of my classmates in music and theater were much more talented, and I was burdened by the possibility that I would likely be a professional performer or teacher, but (at least in my mind) be second-rate. I went to law school.

In my career as a lawyer, I was drawn to the excitement of trial. It was here that all of the things that I had explored in college seemed to come together. As a trial lawyer, I would write, direct, produce, and perform. Because the goal was to persuade a judge, arbitrator, or jury, I would strive to understand the decision-making process and how to influence people whose political or social inclinations differed widely. My practice included a wide variety of cases that went to trial: legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, real estate, contract, and business disputes.

Losing a case is terrible. To me, it was a rejection by others of what I believed to be true. There is a fundamental difference between lawyers who represent plaintiffs (particularly on a contingent fee) and those who represent defendants (particularly those whose fees are paid...