8/11/2019 Ten Rules for Being a Good Trial Lawyer

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Ten rules for being a good trial lawyerPosted on March 5, 2011by Paul Luvera|Leave a commentPrintEmail

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1. HONESTY IS ALWAYS THE BEST POLICYYou must be always be honest withothers and especially with yourself You must be willin! to face the truth even when it

hurts "his commandment is especially true in presentin! a client#s case to a $ury %ll

people are e&uipped with internal detectors about lies and when youput a !roup to!ethertheir collective ability is even more sensitive to falsehood 'cripture teaches us this fact

("he man of inte!rity wal)s securely, but he who ta)es croo)ed paths will be found out *

+Proverbs 10-.and (You shall )now the truth and the truth shall ma)e you free* +/ohn

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2. ETHICAL ISS!ES A"E SI#PLE$ ALWAYS %O THE "I&HT THIN& When you

stop to honestly eamine issues that arise in your law practice you will find that you

inherently )now what the ri!ht thin! is you should do 3ut, we are tempted by the humanfrailties of !reed, pride, power and the li)e to rationali4e and $ustify "he problem is that

when we don#t do the ri!ht thin! it has a way of punishin! us later 'omehow, truth

always comes out in the end and our short term benefit is never worth the conse&uences

3. ALWAYS P!T THE CLIENTS BEST INTE"ESTS 'I"ST "he other rule that is

connected to ethical issues is that in every situation if we put the client#s interests before

all others and especially our own we will ma)e the ri!ht decision in ever case You have a

&uestion of conflict of interests 6hat#s the ri!ht thin! for the client You have an&uestion about settlement 6hat#s the ri!ht thin! for the client 7n every situation this is

the litmus test of ma)in! the ri!ht decision

4. I' YO! WANT TO A(OI% %ISP!TES ) #IS!N%E"STAN%IN&S* CON'I"#

IT IN W"ITIN&6e have a lot of dealin!s in our law practice and disputes as well as

misunderstandin!s are part of our communication problems Ma)e it a standard practice

after a conversation or phone call to send a confirmin! note 7t can be 89mail or a letterand it doesn#t have to be in (le!ali4e* or should it be insultin! /ust confirm the

understandin! you have and avoid disputes

5. NO 'EE IS WO"TH THE PAIN O' A P"OBLE# CLIENT :o matter how

attractive the case or how lar!e the potential free, learn this iron clad rule "he pain,an!uish and frustration of a problem client is simply never and 7 mean never worth

whatever fee you mi!ht earn ;ne of the reasons you became a lawyer was to have

independence so eercise !ood $ud!ment and send the problem clients somewhere else

6. PIC+ YO!" BATTLESLife is not fair and $ustice is a !oal but not always a reality

"here are situations where the cards are stac)ed before the are dealt 7n those cases you

need to evaluate what is possible and what is not possible

8/11/2019 Ten Rules for Being a Good Trial Lawyer

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learn how difficult it is to !et $ustice "here are so many reasons to complain about the

system that are not !oin! to chan!e anytime soon that if you dwell on them, you will not

!row into the )ind of lawyer you should become You should conduct yourself as aprofessional and be firm about who you are and your role, >owever, don#t spend your

time whinin! to your friends about it 7t#s a waste of time, "ou!hen up "rial wor)

re&uires coura!e and determination8. BE YO! AN% NOT SO#EONE ELSE?on#t waste your time tryin! to be someone

else you admire Learn from those who have somethin! worthwhile to teach but always

ma)e it yours You are uni&ue ;ver and over 7 see lawyers 7 would never epect to besuccessful based upon appearances who are, in fact, !reat trial lawyers because they are

totally authentic @ warts, bumps and all People respond to authentic human bein!s so be

the uni&ue person Aod created when he created you

9. WHATE(E" YO! TA+E ON &I(E IT YO!" BEST E''O"T8veryone shouldevaluate le!al wor) you have accepted and be prepared to re9evaluate it at every sta!e,

but in all thin!s !ive it your best effort :othin! is worse then a half hearted trial lawyers

7f you accept the wor), then !ive it your best effort at all times and 7 all thin!s

10.'O" A SHO"T CO!"SE IN H!#AN NAT!"E ST!%Y %ALE CA"NE&IE ?alee wrote what is probably the most accurate encyclopedia of humannature in 1-D with his boo)How to Win Friends and Influence Peoplewhich remains

today a best seller and has been translated into thirty one lan!ua!es "rial lawyers have a

$ustified reputation for bein! loud, combative and often obnoious people "oo many ofus haven#t a clue about the ma)eup of people who serve on a $urors, our clients or the

$ud!es we deal with "his simple, interestin! and very accurate boo), with an unfortunate

title, is all one needs to rectify this failure on our part if its teachin!s are put into practice