The litigation roller coaster.

• Author: Patterson, Boyd M., Jr.

EXHILARATING PEAKS. Stomach dropping plummets. Twists.Turns. Sudden loops that unexpectedly turn a familiar landscape upside down. All part of the trial lawyer's reality.

Naturally, some people avoid roller coaster professions. So, in an effort to provide some insight into the tumultuous world of litigation, I would like to share the most effective technique that I have ever witnessed to help lawyers not lose their cases. To my knowledge, this technique has never failed any lawyer who applies it, whether prosecutor or defense attorney. Ready to hear it? The fail-safe technique for never losing a case is: never try a case. Just stay off the roller coaster. You can watch from the sidelines. This is the only way to avoid the lows of litigation practice and I personally guarantee that if you start utilizing this technique today, you will never again lose a single trial.

The slightly bolder soul can venture onto the gentler rides where the twists or turns, if any, remain moderate. Try only the cases in which the defendant has confessed. Or when the video camera captures him committing the crime. Or if DNA evidence seals his fate. This policy enables one to venture into the arena and try meritorious cases, while escaping the stress of both hard-fought victory and crushing defeat.

Yet, some prosecutors do not avoid peaks and valleys. Some actually seek out the risky cases. They run toward the child rape case where the defendant has prior sex offenses that the jury will never know about. They run toward the case against the violent career criminal in which the only people willing to testify against him are the easily impeached federal prisoners who used to run with him. If you are one of those prosecutors, the citizens in your community owe you their gratitude. While you will win some of those precarious cases, you will certainly lose several. You may lose several in a row. It can get depressing. When the deeper valleys of defeat have you questioning your abilities, keep the following in mind.

Failure (and success) is cyclical. Rotate out of a bad spot by continuing to try cases. As...