Top tips for litigators

• Pages: 27-27

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TOP TIPS FOR LITIGATORS

SUBMITTED BY ABA MEMBERS

In legal writ-

ing: Less is

always better.

Remember your

audience is a

very busy judge who wants to get to

the point quickly. Strive to put your

most important argumen ts fi rst, an d

state them as succinctly as possible.

Revise and revise again, until you

have pared away all excess words,

phrases and arguments.

Karen Kahle

Steptoe & Johnson

Bridgeport, West Virginia

Be courteous to every single

person you encounter in the court-

house, from the security o cer who

greets you at the door, to the baili

who assists in the courtroom , to the

clerks and the court repor ters and

everyone in between. When you

need assistance—and you will—it is

these very people who ca n make the

di erence for you between being

an e e ctive advocate and a clearly

exposed newbie. If you are courte -

ous and respectful to all, you will

have advocates of

your own when you

need help.

Tasha Blakney

Eldridge & Blakney

Knoxville, Tennessee

Get out of the o ce. Always

visit or inspect the site or the tan -

gible objects that are the subjec t

of the dispute. You will gain infi -

nitely more knowledge by such

inspections than you can poss ibly

get from video, photos or docu-

ments. It also gives you the upper

hand with witnesses who tr y to lie.

It opens leads

for evidence

that you did

not even think

of. Also, take

a few hours to

visit your local

courthouse and the clerk ’s o ce.

Meet people there, and make

connections with the sta .

Robert Guinness

Guinness & Buehler

St. Charles, Missouri

Always break down the

legalese to something

the client can relate to in

another context. Empower

the client to make hard

choices so he/she can move

through the litigation and get

to life on the other side.

Gail Roth

Gail P. Roth, LLC

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

Never allow

your client to be

the client and the

attorney. They can

only play the role

of client. If they

begin doing their

own research and directing you on the law

and what arguments to make, you have lost

control of the matter and should with draw

to preserve your sanity.

Deborah Pino

The Law O ces of Deborah Pino

Oakland Park, Florida

Look at your uniform jury instructions on

the cause of action(s) and use them to help

you draft not only the complain t but also for

deposition preparation and

discovery requests.

Michael Schwarz

Law O ces of Michael Schwarz

Santa Fe, New Mexico

With clients and juries, don’t for-

get you are not talking to lawyers.

So leave the legal jargon and logic

at home and concentrate on what

they want to know. Tell stories. Use

examples. Be a

person.

David Benson

Benson Law Firm

Cleveland

Be extra nice to the judge’s

clerks and judicial assistants. A

smile and a friendly “good morn-

ing” go a long way. Not only do

judges appreciate and expec t

you to be respectful toward

court sta but not doing so could

adversely a ect your ability to

best serve your clients. Ever

wonder what the judge and clerk

talk about in chambers? If you’ve

been rude or nasty, that conver-

sation might well be about you!

Neal Zaslavsky

Law O ce of Neal S. Zaslavsky

West Hollywood, California

Hard work

by a new

litigator gets

further than

an underpre-

pared, more

experienced

litigator. Roll up your sleeves

and get to work. They will likely

underestimate you to your

advantage.

Jen Lipinski

Gordon & Partners

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Make it your goal

to be the most pre-

pared attorney in

the courtroom at all

times. Do this and

you will always have

an advantage over your adversary. Many

times over, my laborious preparation for

even the smallest and most insigni fi cant

of court appearances ha s provided me

with the tools to be more e ective than my

adversary, which is the key to success in the

courtroom .

Shannon Miller

Maurice Wutscher

Wayne, Pennsylvania

Practice

DECEMBER 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 27