Legal Research

"Recharging"

Posted by Mark Bennett: "I spent the weekend in trial mode, preparing for a DWI trial in Montgomery County, north of Houston. This would've been only my second trial in a slow year for jury trials (the first ended in an acquittal; several others have been dismissed on the eve of trial) and my client's career was at stake, so trial mode was particularly intense; I may have barked at my loved ones once or twice.

So when a reader emailed to ask,

How (or do) you recharge during trial mode?  I imagine it's very exhausting.

I thought that might be a good topic for a blog post.

It is exhausting: trial mode is stressful, physically, mentally and emotionally. The longest jury trial I've had so far was a five-week federal money-laundering trial in Newark back in '98; I wound up with a raging case of bronchitis (and lost the case, to boot). Trial mode is bad for our health and bad for our relationships. We can do it if we have to, but it's better to have a way to back off and recharge.

So what have I learned since 1998?

First, trust your mind...

Second, find something else to do...

Do what? It'll be something unique to you; here are some things that work for me.

• I like to work on machines..
• I love to read...
• TV sometimes works, but not law shows...
• This year I discovered indoor climbing...
• I also rediscovered computer programming..

My simple suggestion for criminal defense lawyers: find something you enjoy doing and make it your trial-mode break. It'll make you a better lawyer and a better human being.

On a not-unrelated topic, my suggestion for prosecutors: if you know on Thursday that you're going to dismiss my client's case on Monday (as happened on this DWI case in Montgomery County), tell me on Thursday. Don't make me spend the weekend preparing for trial, and don't make my client take a day off from work and drag his witnesses down to the courthouse for a trial that you know is not going to materialize. That, too, will make you a better lawyer and a better human being.

Full text and the active link are available at the source site listed below.

Source: Defending People, 22 September 2009

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on September 29, 2009 (boomark / email).