Litigation

Tip for New Lawyers: Learn by Example

By Evan Schaeffer

As I've written before, one of the best ways to learn deposition techniques is to pay attention to lawyers who are more experienced that you -- most particularly, your opponents.

After all, it's one thing to read how to do a thing, or have it explained to you, but it's quite another to learn from the example of someone who actually knows how to do it better than you do.

This trick of learning by example applies not only to depositions, but to any area of legal practice. Here are some other skills a litigation lawyer can learn from a more-experienced opponent--

• How to strategize during discovery;
• How to write effective interrogatories and requests for admissions;
• How to object to improper discovery;
• How to write letters about discovery disputes;
• How to write an effective brief;
• How to argue a motion in front of the court;
• How to move a case forward by taking an effective deposition;
• How to keep an opponent on the offensive;
• How to make a compelling case for your client at the beginning of a mediation;
• How to present direct testimony during trial;
• How to cross-examine during trial;
• How to persuade a jury at trial during voir dire, opening, and closing.

To take advantage of this learning-from-your-opponents idea, all you have to do is make a file, which will get larger and larger over the months and years, and then resolve to pay attention during your normal day to what other lawyers are doing and how they are doing it.

Use your file to collect all the best form-worthy materials you come across in your practice, as well as all the notes you take about new tricks and techniques you've learned from your opponents.

Finally, remember to be humble enough to acknowledge that it's possible to learn something from an opponent. For many lawyers, this is probably the largest impediment to an ability to learn by example.

Full post as published by The Illinois Trial Practice Blog on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).