Getting Published

If you want others to see you as an expert in a given practice area, consider getting published. Published articles tell others that what you have to say is important enough and authoritative enough to be in print. But how do you get your article published? Consider the following in order to get your idea read by hundreds, possibly thousands, of others.

Brainstorm. So what do you want to write about? Sit down and brainstorm different ideas worthy of being transformed into articles. Where are you going to find your sources of inspiration? A landmark U.S. or Florida Supreme Court decision can serve as the basis of an article. How about a recent legal trend? A "how to" piece on how to take a deposition or retain an expert? How about an issue a client has asked you to look into? If you’re going to be a writer, always be on the lookout for ideas and ask yourself, "Would this make a good article?" Once you start thinking like a writer, you’ll never be short of ideas to turn into publishable pieces.

Compile a list of potential publishers. Before you sit down to write, decide where you want to get your article published. Compile a list of publications, including trade journals, newspapers, magazines and newsletters, which might be interested in your idea. You don’t know which publication to pitch your idea to? Most bar and trade associations have their own magazines and newsletters, and their editors are always looking for articles to fill the pages of those publications. If you can’t think of any publications to write for, look at the web pages of these associations to see what publications are out there.

Read the publications you want to write for. If you’re going to write something a magazine wants to print you first have to know what it wants. To do this, you need to read the publication. Don’t pitch a story without first knowing what types of articles appear in the pages of that publication.

Read the writer’s guidelines. Many publications provide guidelines about what articles they are looking for, how they want articles pitched, and to whom. Read them carefully and follow the recommendations.

Write a query letter. Once you know who you’ll be writing for, write a letter pitching your idea. In the letter, provide a brief summary of your proposed article, a proposed title, why the piece is relevant to the publication’s readers, your qualifications to write the article and a brief history of your writing experience. To save money on postage and speed up the process, determine whether the publication accepts email queries.

Study the masthead. Most magazines and journals have a masthead, which contains the name of their various editors and staff writers. The list is important, because it will tell you who the different editors are and which one you should address your query to.

Update your resume. The editor you’re pitching your idea to will likely ask to see your resume. Therefore, make sure yours is updated. Include any writing experience and editing experience you have, whether as an editor on law review, a writer for the school newspaper or a contributor to a firm newsletter.

Start small. If you want to see your article in a national magazine or trade journal, start out small and work your way up. Generally, the bigger the publication, the more likely that it does not work with novice writers. Those big publications are looking for authors who have written articles elsewhere and have a proven track record. Generally, the smaller publications are open to working with new writers. Start small, get some experience and climb the ladder to the bigger magazines and trade journals.

Gather clips. Make sure to save any articles, or clips, you publish. Editors will want to see them to get a flavor of your talent and style.

Avoid editors’ pet peeves. If you want to increase the odds that your article will be accepted for publication, avoid the pet peeves of the decision makers. Make sure your query is flawless, with no typos or grammatical errors. If an editor doesn’t want you calling to pitch an idea, don’t. If you’re given a deadline, meet it. If you’re asked to make revisions, make them. Trust that the editor knows best about what the final piece should look like.

Writing an article is only half the work. The other half is getting it published. To get your article published, look for publications which would be interested in your idea, and when you find them, pitch your idea in a persuasive, convincing way. Start out with the smaller publications, and soon you’ll have enough clips to see your name bylined in a piece which is read nationally.

What Judges Expect from the Lawyers Who Appear Before Them

Having attended my share of motion calenders, special set hearings and judicial receptions and luncheons, I have been afforded the opportunity to hear what judges expect from the lawyers who appear before them. What never ceases to amaze me is how uniform their expectations are. Some are obvious. Others are not. However, they all bear repeating:

Be respectful to the court. Never interrupt the judge or speak over her. Surprisingly, it happens more than you think.

Be respectful to opposing counsel. Never interrupt, belittle or berate opposing counsel. Also, never address opposing counsel. Your arguments are always to be directed to the court.

Don’t mislead the court. If the court misunderstands the facts or misconstrues the law, set the record straight. The misunderstanding may benefit your client, but it is an underhanded way to get the upper hand. And by the way, the judge likely will find out that you snookered him. Nothing upsets a judge more than feeling taken advantaged of by the attorneys that appear before him.

Do your best to work things out before appearing before the judge. Most judges agree that many of the motions that land on their desk, particularly discovery disputes, should and could have been worked out without the need for a hearing. Attorneys need to treat the court for what it is - a last resort after they have exerted every effort to work things out on their own.

Don’t waste the court’s time. Judges have many more cases on their dockets than they should. So, not only should not you set for hearing motions that you should be able to resolve with a phone call to opposing counsel, you should make every effort to get to the point on those occasions when judicial intervention is warranted. Cut that ten page motion to six pages. Cut that six page motion to three. Reduce those five arguments to three and those three arguments to two or even one. Figure out the crux of your argument, articulate it succinctly and then stop talking. The court will find your brevity refreshing.

Judges talk to each other about the lawyers that appear before them. Many judges know that lawyers compare notes about the judges they appear before. Guess what? Judges compare notes about the lawyers that appear before them. That lawyer who was rude and obnoxious, who thought that it did not matter because what does one judge’s opinion matter? Well, that judge, who was taken aback by that behavior, may have share the experience over lunch with his colleagues, who will remember those comments the next time that attorney appears before them. Everything we do before a given judge may affect how every other judge perceives us.

What you do reflects on your firm. Just as what you say before one judge may affect how other judges perceive you, what you say may affect how that judge and other judges perceive your firm. You are your firm every time you step before a judge. Your reputation is inextricably tied with your firm’s, and everything you say and do either improves that reputation or diminishes it.

Be self-deprecating. When you think of arguing a motion, humor probably does not come to mind. Of course you should never joke at the expense of opposing counsel or the court. But at times, injecting a bit of humor goes a long way in reducing the tension and stress, particularly if it is self-deprecating in nature.

Judges are no different than the rest of us, and they have the same expectations as the rest of us. Just as we expect good service with a positive attitude when we go to our favorite restaurants or retail stores, judges expect that the lawyers who appear before them to provide good service - to be prepared. They also expect them to do it with a smile, namely, to act professionally.

Travel Tips for Associates

The next time you have to travel for a deposition, hearing or a meeting with a client, keep the following in mind to ensure that your trip goes off with a hitch.

Confirm everything. Confirm everyone’s attendance - the court reporter, the witness, opposing counsel, co-defense counsel. Have your secretary call everyone and confirm that they will be there. You don’t want to find out a key party can’t attend after you’ve already boarded the plane.

Make flight arrangements early. Once you learn you have to travel, make flight arrangements. The sooner you make them, the better fares you’ll get. Also, when reserving a flight, purchase refundable tickets. Often, hearings or depositions are canceled or rescheduled at the last minute. If that happens, you don’t want to be stuck with a non-refundable ticket.

Make sure your car rental agency has its vehicles on the airport’s premises. Time is money. Make sure if you’re going to rent a car, that the car rental agency has its vehicles at the airport. Taking a shuttle to an offsite facility can be very time consuming.

Get a weather report. Check the weather to ensure you’ll be dressed appropriately. Traveling from Miami to New York in January requires a change in wardrobe.

Find convenient accommodations. Instead of staying at a hotel near the airport, find a place close to the deposition or hearing site, to ensure you arrive with plenty of time.

Get detailed directions. Before you leave the office, get detailed directions from the airport to your hotel and from your hotel to the deposition or hearing site. And don’t rely on Mapquest. Online map sites can be wrong and confusing. Call ahead and obtain detailed directions directly from the hotel or the court reporter’s office.

Prepare an itinerary. Have your secretary prepare an itinerary that has all your travel arrangements, directions and any other relevant information. This one-page reference source will prove very useful as you from one from place to the next.

Take everyone’s phone numbers. Have everyone’s phone numbers, from the court report to opposing counsel, in case you need to reach them for any reason.

Allow plenty of time. Whenever you travel, allow plenty of time to get there. Assume there will be traffic, that airport security will be slow, that weather will be bad and that flights will get delayed. Plan accordingly.

Pack snacks. Sometimes you won’t have time to grab lunch when you’re running from the airport to your deposition. Pack some protein or snack bars in your briefcase in case of such an emergency.

Take extra work. Because you’ll be giving yourself plenty of time when you travel, you’ll face some dead time in the airport. Take extra work with you so you don’t lose precious billable time. A lot of things can go wrong when you travel for work. You can avoid most problems by planning ahead. Plan wisely.

Drafting Requests for Production - Getting the Documents You Want

In litigation, the right documents can make the difference between winning and losing. In your pursuit of the smoking gun, make the most of the requests for production you serve on the other side. Strong requests may get you the documents you need to win. Weak requests may get you little else than a mountain of objections. When drafting requests for production, consider the following:

Ask the opposing party to preserve all relevant documents. Along with your request, send a letter to the opposing party requesting that they preserve all the documents you consider relevant and provide categories of documents which are relevant to the case. By placing them on notice of the significance of given documents may serve as a basis for spoliation if they fail to preserve the documents.

Be specific. Broad requests invite objections from the other side. When they don’t, they produce mountains of paper, with little useful information. Tailor your requests to be as specific as possible so as to get the documents you really need.

Propound different versions of the same request. Sometimes, you know what category of documents you want the other side to produce but you don’t know how to draft the request without making it too broad or too narrow. When this happens, it is best to draft several versions of the same request, ranging from a broad request to a very narrow request. Multiple requests increase the odds of getting what you were looking for.

Request a privilege log. If opposing counsel objects to some of your requests claiming that you have requested privileged documents, request that he produce a privilege log which describes the nature of the documents which he claims are privileged. Parties who claim a privilege must produce privilege logs or run the risk of waiving that privilege. By forcing the other side to produce a privilege log, you may cause them to take a hard look at their privilege objections, realize some of them are unfounded and produce some documents.

Use contention requests for production. As you can do with interrogatories, propound contention requests for production. Such a request would entail asking the opposing party to produce all the documents which support a given allegation in his complaint or an affirmative defense asserted in his answer. By doing so, you can acquire all the documents the other side claims supports his case.

Don’t leave to interpretation to opposing counsel what you meant. There are attorneys out there who will try to construe your requests as narrowly as possible so as not to produce any documents. To limit this from happening, prepare a definition section, and define all the terms you’ll be using your request and define them so that the opposing counsel knows exactly what you’re asking for.

Agree with opposing counsel to bate stamp all documents. In some cases, the number of documents produced is inconsequential, making bate-stamping a novel, but unnecessary procedure. However, in most cases, many documents will exchange hands. To facilitate the use of these documents during the course of litigation, secure an agreement with opposing counsel that whenever anyone produces a document, he will bate stamp it.

Take time to draft meaningful requests for production. A single request may result in the production of a smoking gun.

How To Improve Your Research Skills

Lawyers often complain that law school did not teach them how to be lawyers. Maybe it taught them how to do research, how to write, but not how to practice law. The fact is, we lawyers don’t know how to research, how to really research, until we leave law school and start practicing. Research for law school briefs and moot court competitions is not the same as when everything is on the line and the outcome depends on the cases you find. As you hone your research skills to find that much sought after case, consider the following:

Understand the issue you are researching. Before you run off to the library, make sure you know the issue you are researching. This is an obvious point, but how many of us have gone back to the partner only to find out we were going down the wrong path. It’s better to risk looking foolish by asking questions when you first get an assignment rather than guarantee looking foolish by wasting two hours in the library.

Know the facts of the case. Don’t settle for knowing what issue to research. You need context. Find out all the facts of your case, so that when you start researching you know what fact patterns to look for in the cases you read.

Ask around. Before you run off to the library or jump on Westlaw, ask other associates if they have done the same research. Perhaps your office has a document management system in place such as Imanage that allows you to search all office memos for key words. Such a search may pull up a memo identical to the one you were about to prepare.

Go from general to specific. Before you start researching cases and statutes, read through treatises to obtain an overview of the subject matter you are researching. This overview will help put into context the cases you find which address your issue.

Use the right tools. Rely on the correct tools to get the job done. There is a plethora of treatises and reference books out there. If you have any sway in what books your law firm buys, ask for the leading reference books that apply to your field.

Use key numbers. Once you have read through the relevant legal articles and treatises, it is time to start looking up cases and statutes. If you’re a new attorney, chances are you do all your research on Westlaw. If that’s the case, become accustomed to doing key number searches. Westlaw has taken every legal issue imaginable, and has assigned it a key number. Click on the key number that references your issue and up pops every headnote in every case addressing that issue. By doing this, you can feel assured that you have found every case on point.

Find cases involving your jurisdiction. Make sure you have found all the relevant cases in your jurisdiction.

Find cases involving your Judge. Even more important than finding a case in your jurisdiction is finding a case involving your judge. Do a word search for your judge’s name and see what cases you come up with. See when his opinions have been upheld and when they have been overturned.

Lean on a Westlaw representative. If you use Westlaw, you have access to hundreds of research attorneys whose only job is to help you find the cases you want. When your research isn’t producing fruit, don’t be shy to pick up the phone and ask a Westlaw representative for some help.

Chase the rabbit. During your research, you may find a few cases that address your issue. Don’t stop there. What other cases do those cases cite? Look them up and read them. What cases cite the cases you found? Look them up and read them. Keep doing this until you have reviewed every case addressing your issue. Don’t be satisfied until you’ve gone down every rabbit hole.

Take your time. Good research takes time. It takes time to read treatises and law review articles. It takes time to read cases, to key cite them and to read those cases. Take the time. It can be the difference between a winning and losing motion.

At first glance, research seems simple enough. That is, until that case your boss insists is out there, the one he read in the advance sheets six months ago, becomes elusive. Then, you have to muster all these skills to track that case down.

How to Write a Motion in State Court

If you only had thirty seconds to convince someone of your position, what would you say? Whenever I write a motion, I have the attitude that I have thirty seconds to convince the judge that my position is the right one. I have one page, maybe two, to grab her attention and convince her I’m right. Thirty seconds. The rest of the motion is spent proving I’m right. Here’s how to do it:

Start with a strong introduction. In a sentence or two, tell the court why your position is the right one. Hit the ground running with a strong start that makes your case.

Get to your point. Let the court know why you are seeking relief. Do not leave her guessing why you filed your motion.

Stick to your point. Once you make your point, stick to it throughout the motion. Don’t wander off the path. Digressions distract.

Support your point. Once you make the point, support it with the law. Do your research and find the cases that support your positions. When doing research, think outside the box. Do not limit yourself to cases and statutes. Find law review and Florida bar journal articles. Cite Florida Bar publications, such as the Discovery Handbook.

Confront your weaknesses. If there are cases that hurt your position, confront them. Don’t ignore the other sides strengths. Point them out to the judge and show why you win despite them.

Less is more. Keep the motion brief. Say as much as you can with as few words as possible. Judges are busy. A three page motion that makes a strong point is better than a ten page motion that makes no point at all.

Use the Active Voice. The subjects of your sentences should not be victims. Things don’t happen to them. They make things happen. Speak in the active voice. Avoid passive verbs such as "is" or "was." Active sentences are clearer and get to the point faster.

Edit, Edit, Edit. Don’t be happy with your first draft, your second, or perhaps even your third. Edit out the excess sentences, phrases and words. Make sure your argument holds water, the transitions are smooth and the word choice is proper.

Speak plainly. Avoid legalize and ten dollar words. Use short words, direct sentences, and avoid the "heretofores" and the "saids."

Speak confidently. Don’t be bashful. If you are not confident about your position do not expect the Judge to be.

Make it a good read. You may not be John Grisham but that does not mean your motion should put a judge to sleep. Make your writing strong, persuasive and interesting.

Make it clear what relief you are seeking. Don’t simply ask the judge for relief. Be specific about the relief you are seeking.

Do not overstate or misstate. Remember your job is to persuade, not misrepresent. If a case does not support your position, do not say that it does.

Do not take personal shots. Keep it professional. Do not attack the other side or opposing counsel. Do not confuse being an advocate with being a jerk.

Attach the relevant documents. If you are going to reference a document or affidavit, attach it to the motion so the judge can see it for herself.

When you write a motion, keep in mind that someone else is going to read it. Put yourself in the judge’s shoes and give her what she wants. Tell the judge what your position is, why she should agree with it and what relief she should grant. By doing so you increase the likelihood that the motion you drafted will be a winning one.

Who Should Conduct a Medical Examination?

Whether you call it an "independent medical examination," "a defense medical examination" or "compulsory medical examination," your first decision is whether to subject the plaintiff to one. Is his physical or mental condition at issue? Do you want that condition evaluated by an expert of your choice? If so, you need to decide who should conduct it. When choosing an expert to evaluate the plaintiff, consider the following:

Do you need the plaintiff examined by more than one specialist? Perhaps the plaintiff has physical and cognitive injuries? If so, you may need to have him examined by both a neurologist or orthopedic surgeon and a neuropsychologist. Perhaps a third and even a fourth examination may be in order (an ophthalmologist for an injury to the eye, a vocational rehabilitation counselor to evaluate earning capacity, etc). If you plan on subjecting the plaintiff to multiple exams, it is best to get plaintiff’s O.K. first. If he refuses, seek court intervention. You want to resolve the number of medical examinations before setting the first one, because you don’t want to start setting medical examinations and then have to abandon one or more, perhaps the most important ones, because the court has determined you already have subjected the plaintiff to too many exams.

What kind of expert do you need? Once you’ve isolated the injuries or conditions that need evaluation, you need the find the right expert to evaluate them. Don’t settle for an expert in the general field related to plaintiff’s condition. Find an expert in the sub-specialty related to that condition. For example, if you want to evaluate whether a prescription drug caused a plaintiff’s stroke, don’t settle on a board-certified neurologist. Search out a board-certified vascular neurologist. If you want to examine whether a fall caused a plaintiff’s knee injury, don’t settle on a general orthopedic surgeon. Find one who specializes in knees. Better yet, find a sports medicine physician who specializes in knees. Always search out the expert who is best suited to evaluate the plaintiff’s condition.

Search out the best. When looking for an expert, find the best. Don’t settle for a second rate expert simply because you believe he will give you the opinion you’re hoping for. If the expert is going to be convincing, not only to the jury for purposes of trial, but to opposing counsel for purposes of settlement discussions, search out the best expert available.

Start with looking at the websites of Florida’s medical schools. Look for the chairs of the departments, the ones who went to the ivy league schools, who were chief residents, who have a long list of publications and are frequent lecturers. You are looking for the best of the best. If you found someone who has been named the Best of America’s Doctors year after year and has a 30-plus page resume, you’ve likely found your expert.

Of course, chair or co-chairs of departments tend to be busy. Sometimes you have to schedule medical examinations with them months in advance. Sometimes, they simply don’t do medical examinations for litigation. If so, keep going down the list of tenured professors until you find someone that fits your needs and has an impressive resume.

Confirm the expert is the best. He looks good on paper, but how do you know the expert lives up to the resume? Ask for references - the names of attorneys who have previously retained him. Find out the type of expert he really is. Just as important, find out the type of witness he is - how does he perform at deposition? How about at trial? It does not matter if you have a brilliant expert if he can’t put two words together when staring at a jury.

When retaining an expert to conduct a medical examination, take the time to find the right expert to evaluate plaintiff’s condition. The right one with respect to his curriculum vitae and also to the type of witness he will make.

Finding the Witnesses You Need

How do you find that ever elusive witness? The one who saw the accident but no one can find? The former employee who has first knowledge about the negotiations to a contract, whose last known phone number is disconnected? It’s time to start playing sleuth and tracking down the witnesses you need to prove your case. How? Consider the following.

Who are you looking for? First things first. You need to figure out who the relevant witnesses are. Ask your client for the names of everyone he knows who has or may have information about the case. Look at all the documents and see whom they reference as potential witnesses. Think of categories of witnesses who should have relevant information - eyewitnesses, investigators, foreman, supervisors, family, friends, neighbors - and then try to figure out whether any witnesses exist in any of these categories. Your first job is to compile a list of every potential available witness and then devise a game plan. Decide which witnesses you can and should locate, and think through how you are going to find them.

Let your fingers do the walking. Once you know whom to look for, do a white pages search on the internet for the witness. Chances are you’ll find their phone numbers and addresses with just a few taps on the keyboard.

Google them. If the white pages don’t produce fruit, do a Google search of the witnesses you are looking for. You may find their Myspace page, or their blog, or an article about them, or their high school reunion site - something with their contact information. With the internet, anonymity is hard to find.

Ask the other witnesses. One witness probably knows not only the names of other witnesses you’d be interested in interviewing, but how to reach them. Let your witnesses help you find other witnesses.

Review the documents. Just as you check with your witnesses, review your documents for potential contact information for other witnesses.

Knock on some doors. If phone calls are going unanswered, get in your car and go knock on some doors in hopes of finding those elusive witnesses.

Hire an investigator. If all else fails, hire an investigator to find that witness that you cannot. That’s what investigators do. If the witness is important enough, recommend to your client that he incur the cost of an investigator’s services to find that witness on whose testimony the case may turn.

Using Your Depositions to Win

Why take depositions? You take them to advance your case. You take them, because they will support a motion for summary judgment or because they will strengthen your position at mediation or because they will help you prevail at trial. You take them because they help you win. Before you take your next deposition, think through how it helps you win the case.

Take a deposition to lay the foundation for a summary judgment motion. Summary judgments are won or lost on the facts. Look at the relevant jury instructions, statutes and cases, and determine what facts you need to elicit to lay the groundwork for a successful motion for summary judgment. Sometimes you’ll come across a case similar to yours, where certain facts led the appellate court to affirm a motion for summary judgment. Use that case as a guide. If you can elicit the same facts in your depositions as the facts referenced in that case, then you can reference the facts you elicit and the case you found as the foundation for a successful motion for summary judgment.

Take a deposition to improve your settlement posture. If you can dismantle the other side’s key witness in deposition, then you’ve gone a long way in changing your client’s position when it comes to settlement talks. Think through why the other side thinks this witness makes his case and breaks yours and ask the types of questions that cuts that witness down to size.

Take a deposition to prevail at trial. What are the admissions you would want to hear at trial? What are the statements you want the jury to hear? Think through the themes you want to have reverberate through trial and then think through the facts and statements that play into and support those themes. Working backwards from there, use the depositions to build a foundation for those themes. Remember, you never want to ask a question of the witness at trial you don’t know the answer to. Therefore, you want to use depositions to get the admissions you need, because if you didn’t ask the questions at deposition you run a huge risk asking them for the first time at trial.

Before taking your next deposition, consider how it advances your case. How it proves one or more of the elements of the cause of action or undermines one or more of the affirmative defenses if you’re plaintiff’s counsel, or how it undermines one or more of the elements of the cause of action or supports one or more of the affirmative defenses, if you’re defense counsel. If the deposition doesn’t accomplish any of this, consider whether it is worth taking at all.

Getting Past the Fear

Here you are. A litigator tackling a large caseload, attending hearings, taking depositions and preparing for trials. You remember law school with some nostalgia now that you’re at a job where you’re called upon to make important decisions every day. Sometimes it’s challenging. Sometimes it’s overwhelming. Sometimes it’s downright frightening. And sometimes that fear can get the best of you. How do you tackle the fear and make it work for you? Consider the following suggestions.

Accept failure. You will make mistakes. Every associate does. It’s part of the job description. When you make them, learn from them and move on. Don’t dwell on them. Don’t let them color your perspective or define who you are. When you fail your life won’t end, you won’t lose your job and others won’t think you’re an idiot. Because they too have made mistakes. And you know what? They’re still making them.

Accept your limitations. Fear is often a byproduct of getting in over your head. Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s important to challenge yourself, to strive beyond what other attorneys at your level are doing. However, take it too far, and you’ll quickly find yourself in unfamiliar territory, making decisions without having a frame of reference to make them. Don’t stray far from the supervising attorney. Her direction will ensure you stay on the right track and the proximity will give you piece of mind.

Get ahead of the curve. In law school, you learned the law. Now you realize that knowing the law is not enough. You have to learn how to get things done. Not knowing how things work, how the process works, can be disabling. "Am I making the right decision?" "Am I doing the right thing?" "The right way?" The faster you can learn how things work, the faster you’ll overcome the uncertainty.

But how do you get ahead of the curve? A great way is to attend CLE seminars or listen to CLE tapes that address the mechanics of being a lawyer. In addition, you can find a lot of practice pieces in bar association newsletters, magazines and peer reviewed journals. Most everything you didn’t learn in law school has been reduced to writing by some attorney who doesn’t want you to make the mistakes he did.

Research the outcomes of your decision. Not knowing how things will turn out is unsettling. "What will happen if I choose option X?" If you’ve never chosen option X before, you’re not sure what the possible outcomes may be. However, others have been in your shoes. Ask other attorneys at your firm what they’ve done and why they did it.

Your decision may turn on what the law says. If that’s the case, you need to research what the law says. When you first get a case, you should research the elements and defenses of the case. That way, you know what plaintiff needs to prove and what the defendant needs to disprove. This information will provide you a roadmap to where the case should go, and knowing where to go will do a lot to alleviate the uncertainty.

Fear is natural. Being at a new job, dealing with new people, tackling new situations can be unnerving. Get ahead of the fear. Don’t settle with tackling problems as they come. Take the time to read, and study and learn how more experienced attorneys deal with the problems you will be dealing with, so when they come, you’ll be prepared. You’ll react with knowledge, not with fear.

How to Prepare for a Hearing in State Court

As a new lawyer, you often feel like the underdog, especially when it comes to arguing motions in state court. More often than not, your opponent is more experienced, more suave, more in control. He knows everyone in the courthouse by their first name, whether they are attorneys, judicial assistants or bailiffs. Even the judges go out of their way to say hello to him. How can you compete? Preparation can go a long way toward leveling the playing field. The following are some tips to consider.

Pick your fights wisely. Is it wise to file the motion? Is the law on your side? What are the odds the judge will grant your motion? Does the motion really serve my client’s interests? Having a winning track record at arguing motions begins with knowing what battles to fight and which ones to walk away from.

Try to work it out with opposing counsel. Before you draft a motion, call opposing counsel and try to work it out. You may save yourself the time and expense of the motion. If not, you can let the Court know that you tried to work things out.

Keep the motion simple. In state court, particularly during motion calender, courts are swamped with dozens of motions. Make your motion short, simple and to the point. In my motions, I tell the judge up front the relief I am seeking and why I am entitled to it.

Learn everything you can about your judge. Ask around your office about your judge. Is she plaintiff or defense oriented? Is she slow to impose sanctions? Also, obtain a copy of the judge’s protocols for setting and arguing motions. In addition, do a search on Westlaw for all the cases where your judge has been upheld or overturned. One of these cases may address the same issue you raise in your motion.

Learn everything you can about opposing counsel. Look up your opponent on Martindale-Hubble. Also, look at the attorney’s web page to learn about his area of expertise, years of experience, whether he’s been published and anything else to get a sense of his strengths and weaknesses.

Be courteous when setting the motion. Before you set a motion for hearing, clear the date with opposing counsel. Also, be courteous to the judge by not setting motions on motion calender that will take more than five minutes to argue. Some judges have a list of the type of motions they refuse to hear on motion calender.

Send the court a courtesy copy. Send the court a courtesy copy of the motion and a copy of all the cases cited in the motion, with a cover letter informing the judge the date and time of the hearing.

Order a court reporter. Consider ordering a court reporter. Sometimes, opposing counsel or the judge will address issues you were not expecting. It is good to have a transcript of these digressions. Also, parties cannot always agree to the language of an order, claiming the judge said one thing or another. A transcript often resolves these disputes.

Make sure you made the calender. A day or two before the hearing, make sure you made the judge’s calender. Also, confirm with opposing counsel and the court reporter that they will be attending the hearing.

Prepare a hearing file. Prepare a hearing file containing the following: (1) notice of hearing; (2) two copies of the motion (the second copy for the judge if the courtesy copy you previously sent is not at arm’s length); (3) three copies of all the cases, with the relevant portions highlighted; and (4) a blank order (most judges prefer the form orders with the carbon paper).

Introduce yourself and your case. At the hearing, say your name, your client’s name and the title of your motion. Give a brief description of the facts of the case and present your argument clearly and succinctly.

Be professional. Don’t interrupt opposing counsel or the judge. Don’t raise your voice or become upset. Don’t allow yourself to be baited by opposing counsel. And don’t argue after the Court has ruled.

Make a record. Have the judge make a ruling on the record, and try to have the judge address all the issues you raised in your motion. If you filed a motion to compel and for sanctions, have the judge address both issues. If the judge rules against you, do your best to have her limit her ruling. For example, if she denies your motion, have her do so without prejudice.

Prepare the order before leaving the courthouse. If possible, prepare the order at the conclusion of the hearing. That way, if a dispute arises over the language, you can go back to the judge and ask her to resolve the dispute.

My Sons' Eyes

I sometimes wonder if the sun envies me. I get up before it rises and return home after it sets. In the morning I kiss my wife Ana, and my two boys, David, 9, and Michael, 6, goodbye and head off to work. As I drive off, the last thing I see are my boys, standing in the front doorway in their pajamas, waving and smiling, yelling their last goodbyes. I always remember their eyes. Those eyes don’t see a tired man, lugging a brief case like a life sentence, worried about the hearing that morning or the deposition that afternoon. They see only "Daddy," bigger than life, bigger than any problem, real or imagined.

During one of the morning goodbyes, David looked at me, looked at the sun rising over my shoulder and shouted, "Look Daddy! You’re bigger than the sun!" Yes, bigger than the sun, bigger than any obstacle or problem. A superhero of sorts. No cape, no tights, no bat cave or designer costume, but a superhero nonetheless. Because you see, in my sons’ eyes, Daddy is immune to Kryptonite. That’s what my boys see when they look at me. I take that look to work and conquer the day with it.

There’s power in those eyes. I want to be the man they see. The one who does the right thing, not the easy thing. The one who confronts adversity, not runs from it. The one who keeps his head while those about him are losing theirs. I want to make those boys proud, to live up to their image of me. I don’t want to do anything to make that look in their eyes wane. I’m not naive. They will grow up, become teenagers, see me differently. I’ll look smaller in their eyes. But I’m going to do my best not to contribute to my own diminution.

Those eyes define professionalism for me. It’s not about rules, codes of conduct, mission statements or a list of dos and don’ts. It’s about being the man my boys see, the man I want to be. For me, professionalism simply begins and ends by asking the question, "Would my sons be proud of my actions?" What would they think about my conversations with opposing counsel? The questions I ask the witness at deposition? What I tell the judge at the hearing? They’re a constant presence in my life, even when I’m in the office and they’re back at home watching Barney.

Sometimes when I’m sitting in my office I can almost see my boys, sprawled on the carpet, their Spider Man coloring books open, crayons everywhere. Other times, when I’m typing on the computer, I can almost feel David’s breath on my neck, his fingers on my shoulder. I act as if they’re right there in my office, in the deposition room or in the courthouse. I deal with opposing counsel as if my boys are standing by my side, watching me. I write my motions and letters as if they’re peaking over my shoulder, asking me what I’m typing. Ask me about professionalism, about what it means to be a lawyer, and I’ll tell you about two little boys who idolize their father, who, with their eyes, push him to always be the man they see.

Each of us has someone who sees us for more than what we are. It may be a child, a spouse, a parent or a friend. We want to make them proud; we want to be the person they see. It is in striving to be that person that we pursue professionalism, true ethics. It’s more than following rules for the sake of following rules. It’s doing the right thing for the sake of those who matter. I try to do the right thing because my boys expect me to, and I do it to set an example for them, so that they’ll do the right thing too. Start looking deep into your loved ones’ eyes. You’ll find what it means to be a professional in those eyes, and you’ll find the inspiration to act like one.

What Being a Lawyer Has Taught Me

The following are a few things I have learned during my short career as a civil defense attorney. As with most of my thoughts, they are in no particular order.

If you want to know a lawyer’s true character, see how he treats his secretary when he thinks no one else is looking. Better yet, how he treats the runner.

Professionalism is treating the cleaning staff that comes after hours the same way you treat the judge during motion calender.

You don’t need a pen and pad to write. Take advantage of the quiet times - the first few minutes after you wake up, when you’re in the shower, when you’re driving to work - to think through that memo or brief you’re stuck on or that legal argument that doesn’t quite work.

I would rather driver 3 ½ hours than go through airport security to catch a 45 minute flight.

I do my best writing while I’m driving.

Don’t let your standard of living increase every time your salary does. There’s nothing wrong with driving a car with over 100,000 miles or living in a working class neighborhood. Frugality gives you options in life.

But don’t be frugal when it comes to your shoes. You have to wear them 10 to 14 hours a day. How do you say good looking and comfortable? Two words - deer skin.

Learning from your mistakes is experience. Learning from others’ mistakes is wisdom.

Mentors are great. You get to learn from their mistakes.

Cross examination isn’t just for depositions or trial. You can learn a lot about what’s going on in your kids’ lives if you keep asking them questions.

I assume I don’t have much time on this earth. I live life like I won’t see my 40th birthday. I’m 36. It’s amazing the perspective you get when you think you have four years to live.

When you get to the hotel room, run the hot water and let the steam fill the bathroom. Hang the suits and shirts from your garment bag nearby. You’ll be surprised how many of the wrinkles will vanish.

The key to the practice of law is preparation. I would rather go up against an experienced lawyer who is lazy than an inexperienced one who works his butt off.

Never let another’s behavior dictate yours. No matter how obnoxious or insulting that other lawyer is, don’t respond in kind.

Take a long term view of things. It helps keep everything in perspective.

Always keep the client informed. Make sure the client knows what is happening in his case, what the problems are and what you are doing to address them. Listen to the client and seek his input when formulating a case strategy. Clients hate surprises. One surprise too many, and that client will look elsewhere for legal advice.

A client you speak with, write to and e-mail frequently is often very forgiving of the mistakes you make.

Your kids are always watching you. Live accordingly.

Work as if you’re kids are watching you.

Return messages promptly. In this age of Blackberries, Trios and other technology, the 24-hour-rule is an anachronism. Try 4 hours.

The attorney who was disbarred for misappropriating client funds started years ago by fudging on the little things. Don’t start down that path.

Learn how to use the postage machine. It’s only a matter of time until you’ll have to mail a letter after hours. While you’re at it, learn how to make two-sided copies, how to scan documents and how to send an overnight package.

Show me a lawyer who works hard and I will show you a lawyer, who sooner or later, is going to make it.

The Bible is right. You reap what you sow.

Instead of reading your kids bedtime stories, make them up yourself. Make your kids the protagonists. Have them fight ogres, slay dragons and seek buried treasure. They’ll ask for more and you’ll develop your story telling skills for trial.

Most emergencies are self-made.

Before sending anything out, proofread it at least twice. Three times is preferable.

And proofread outloud.

When you first get a file, call opposing counsel and introduce yourself. It’s harder for an attorney to be unprofessional if he’s had a pleasant conversation with opposing counsel.

Get to know opposing counsel. It’s harder to fight over trivial things if you’re asking opposing counsel about his daughter’s recital and he’s asking you about your son’s soccer game.

When the other side starts objecting during a deposition, you’ve tripped over something. When he starts making speaking objections, you’ve hit pay dirt. Keep digging.

Instant oatmeal is great. Pour a pack into a styrofoam cup, fill with hot water, and voila, breakfast at the office.

If you’re going to have breakfast at the office, make it a point to have breakfast with your kids on the weekend.

The first thing you do -- read the jury instructions. They will be your road map for the entire case. They tell you what the parties have to prove, what the defenses are and whether you stand a chance of winning or not.

If you want your clients to be happy, act like the waiter at your favorite restaurant. At my favorite restaurant, the waiter sits us at "our" table, makes sure we have plenty of bread, brings out the kids’ meals first and keeps our soda glasses filled. He knows our needs, meets them and does it all with a smile. Provide that quality of service to your clients and they’ll keeping coming back.

Funny thing. The food at that restaurant is good, but not great. We come back for the service.

You can’t win without a theme. Start developing the theme of your case early. Every interrogatory you propound, every motion you file and every deposition you take should be done to advance that theme. If you wait until two weeks before trial to develop your theme, it’s too late.

However, don’t be married to a theme. As your case develops, your theme must develop. During the course of litigation, you may pick up and drop a half a dozen themes on the way to finding one that is worth holding onto.

Have a theme for your life. What are you trying to accomplish? When it’s all said and done, and your career is over, what do you hope to have done with your life? Don’t settle for figuring out what your cases are really about. Figure out what you are really about.

Writing is all about nouns and verbs. Adverbs, adjectives and prepositions are overrated.

Actually, writing is all about verbs.

Extra words are the enemy. Eradicate them.

We all have short attention spans. When you write a motion, memo or letter, make your point up front, hit the highlights and stop writing.

Argue your motion out loud before a hearing. It’s one thing to see your arguments written down on paper. It’s quite another to listen to how they sound.

Put yourself in the shoes of the judge and opposing counsel. Anticipate the other side’s arguments and the judge’s likely questions. Thinking this way avoids surprises at hearings.

Get involved. Being a good lawyer entails so much more than working on your cases. If you want to grow and develop, join a voluntary bar association or two and volunteer your time. The relationships you will develop in these organizations will be priceless.

Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses as a lawyer. Pick one of your weaknesses and work on it this year. If you write poorly, read some books on writing, maybe take a class. If you are a poor public speaker, consider joining Toastmasters. Tackle the weaknesses, one at a time.

Also make a list of your goals for the next year. So many of us have a strategy when it comes to our cases, but many of us do not have one when it comes to our lives.

Know your opposing counsel. Look at his website, his jury verdicts and published opinions. Ask around about the type of lawyer he is.

Know your judge. Read the appellate opinions that have upheld his rulings and those that have overturned them. Know what his judicial philosophy is and most importantly, what his pet peeves are.

Prepare every case as if it’s going to trial, not as if it’s going to settle, even though most do.

Always keep a clean desk. You look like you are in control when you do, even if secretly, you are not.

Write your own obituary. Write out how you want others to remember you. Now spend a lifetime trying to live up to that description.

Your Job as a Senior Associate

You have made it this far. You are arguing motions and taking depositions and handling your own caseload. You may have even second-chaired a trial or two or more. The brass ring of partnership is within reach. So what do you need to do to receive your firm’s blessing and become a partner? Here are some thoughts.

Market on the firm’s behalf. The life blood of a firm is its clients. Without them, there are no files to work on. So it is your job to keep the firm’s current clients happy and to help the firm attract new ones. Firm marketing is not just the marketing department’s job or the senior partners’ - it is everybody’s job, particularly yours. One of the things a firm is looking for when deciding to make one of its associates a partner is whether he already has clients or has the potential of attracting them.

To show your firm you have the characteristics it is looking for, get involved in bar associations and business organizations and market your firm to the people you meet at the meetings, conferences and cocktail hours. If you see yourself only as someone who is at the firm to bill hours, that’s how the firm will perceive you. They will appreciate all the hours you bill, but they will never see you as one of them - as a potential rainmaker who deserves to be named and treated as a partner.

Seek out leadership positions in your organizations. As a junior associate, you should have become involved in local and regional bar associations. As a senior associate, it is time to reap the benefits of years of hard work and seek out leadership positions in these organizations. Try to get on their boards and rise in the ranks to become an officer, and ultimately the president of the organization. It is also time to go beyond a parochial perspective, and start getting involved in national organizations, whether it is the American Bar Association, or another national organization. Start laying the foundation in those national organizations to lead them within ten years.

Master your files. Now is the time to go beyond simply managing your files and start mastering them. Not only are you thinking of the big picture, not only are you thinking long term when it comes to your cases, but you are coming up with ways, clever, creative ways to win. You are developing and implementing strategies that get your clients the best results possible. To do this, study how the partners at your firms win the cases they shouldn’t and read everything you can about the success stories of other attorneys. These "war stories" bear precious nuggets that can show you how to elevate your game to the next level.

Act like a partner. If you want to leap from senior associate to partner, it is time to start acting like a partner. What does that mean, though? It means working to fulfill the firm’s goal. It means living the firm’s mission statement in everything you do. It means you start mentoring the younger attorneys at your firm just as you have been mentored over the last several years. It means thinking like a partner when it comes to firm resources, handling files, dealing with clients and working with the staff. The more you act like a partner the more you will be perceived as someone with partnership qualities. Of course acting like a partner does not mean you throw around your weight or take advantage of others at the firm. It means leading through serving others, it means tackling the tough issues and it means not shrinking from responsibility. Behave that way and your title will catch up with your attitude.

As a senior associate your main goal is to lay the final groundwork for becoming a partner. The brass ring is within reach. Strive to grab it.

Your Job as a Mid-Level Associate

After you have the first couple of years at the firm under your belt, you will leave the uncertainty and fear that accompany being a junior associate behind you and find yourself enveloped in the fear and uncertainty that accompany the new tasks and responsibilities that define a mid-level associate. For, as you will see, no sooner have you mastered the tasks and duties of a new attorney, you will be thrust into situations that are wholly unfamiliar. What to do?

Think big picture. As a mid-level associate, you are asked to tackle assignments that may affect the entire case. You are asked to look at the big picture, to see how your actions affect the case not only here and now, but months, possibly years, from now, when the case goes to trial and the jury weighs all the evidence.

Start thinking about partnership. It is never too early to start thinking about partnership. You need to investigate what it takes to become a partner at your firm and what you need to be doing now to get on the partnership track. What types of cases should you be working on? What extra-curricular activities should you be involved in? What marketing efforts should you be engaged in on behalf of the firm?

Accept bigger challenges. It is time to move from simply doing research and writing, motion calender hearings and record custodian depositions to meatier projects. If you are not getting those projects, ask for them. If you don’t get them, then the partners probably don’t think you are ready for them. Find out why and rectify whatever shortcomings the partners believe you have.

Start managing your own files. Move away from piece meal projects and start working on entire files. Your goal is to handle more than just a hearing or a deposition. Your goal is to handle an entire case. Study how the partners run their cases and read everything you can about how others handle their cases - from start to finish. Apply what you learn to the files you are working on and ask to run them yourselves.

Start managing your own caseload. Don’t settle with managing a case or two. Your goal is to handle your entire caseload. The more self reliant you are, the more free time you afford the partners at the firm to dedicate to other matters.

Focus on a specialty. It’s time to pick a practice area and start specializing. Choose an area and become an expert in it. If you master an area of the law, it will show through your work product and you will become the "go to" person at your firm whenever that type of case comes in through the door.

As you move out of your first years into your middle years, it is time to think about your long term career. Do you want to become a partner at your firm? If so, lay the foundation during those middle years by assuming more responsibility and tackling that responsibility with the right attitude.

What Is Expected of Junior Associates

Law school and the bar exam are behind you, and your first job as a junior associate awaits. What is expected of you?

Exemplar work product. Whether you are asked to research an issue, draft an internal memo or write a motion to the court, your job is to make sure it is perfect. But perfection takes time, you say. The partners at the firm will think I’m slow and inefficient, you say. It’s a tempting trap to fall into - not to go that extra mile for fear that others will think you are not bright or are milking a file. Don’t fall into the trap. If you are billing by the hour, the partner can cut your time if need be (junior associates often get their time cut, even when they are "efficient"). If time is an issue, you may have to spend some late nights or early mornings to keep up with your workload.

But whatever you do, make sure that your work is the best it can be. Find that extra case, go down the next rabbit hole and the one after that and proofread what you wrote not just once, but three times. Partners remembers associates who do quality work, and deep down, they know that quality takes time. They’ll forgive inefficiency. They won’t forget poor quality.

Do the dirty work. No one likes doing the mundane, detail-oriented tasks, like going through boxes of documents, answering interrogatories or tracking down hard to find witnesses. Volunteer for these tasks and do them well, and you will get noticed.

Do it with a smile. Doing your job is not enough. You need to do it with the right attitude.

Learn a practice area inside and out. Now is the time to learn everything you can about your practice area. Read the Bar journal articles relevant to your practice. Attend local CLE seminars. Go online, find and read everything you can about what you do. The greater your mastery of an area of the law, the more you will be relied upon when those types of cases come through the door.

Get involved. It’s never too early to get involved in bar associations. Your best bet is the local county or a local specialty bar association. Most bar associations have young lawyer divisions who are eager to invite new members into their fold.

Get along with the staff. Even though you are an attorney, you are, in a way, junior to your very own secretary. She probably knows more about your job than you do, as do the paralegals and possibly even the file clerks. They can help you handle all the practical aspects of your job -how to set a hearing or deposition, how to send a proposed order to the court, etc.

Learning the rules. As a junior associate, your most important job is to learn the rules - the rules of your firm, of your partners, the other associates and the staff. Every organization and every person plays by its or his own rules. Law firms are no different. If you want to get along and fit in, figure out what those rules are.

As a junior associate, your job is to integrate yourself into firm life and do the best job on your assignments, whether they are a document review, a memo or a motion. The odds are that you will not get many of the exciting assignments, but if you do what is expected, your time will come.

Write Your Eulogy

Black. There is so much black. Suits and dresses and slacks and shoes. And then there are the tears, intermingled with a laugh here and there. And in the middle of it all is the coffin, the reason why everyone is there, in black and in tears. And inside that coffin is you. Your practice is over, your career is over and most importantly, your life is over. And as you lay there, the room grows quiet as someone approaches the podium to say a few words. This is your eulogy - your life encapsulated in a few minutes - and everything you’ve done, the life you have led and the values you have held are about to be laid bare to those whose lives were influenced by your words and by your acts.

What will this person say about you? Will he speak in generalities? Will he say what he is suppose to say and will everybody nod their heads like they are suppose to nod? Or will the speaker actually be moved by your life, by your legacy and will those sitting in the folding chairs forget for a few minutes about how hard their seats are and reflect on how their lives are different - how their lives are better - because of you?

If you want to leave a legacy, if you want your life to mean something to others, to mean something after your gone, start with your eulogy. Sit down and write it out. How do you want to be remembered? What do you want those who remain behind to say about you? What are the nouns, and the verbs and the adjectives you want used to describe you? Write it down. Every last word - the anecdotes from your life, the nuggets of wisdom you shared, the acts of kindness you did - in black and white, right in front of you.

There. All your accomplishments, dreams and hopes fulfilled - reduced to a few pages. Now here comes the hard part. How close are you to fulfilling your legacy? How much of that eulogy is accurate and how much of it remains unfulfilled hopes and dreams? By writing your eulogy, you can see where you want to be and how far it is from here to there. You can reflect on what truly matters - the things you will do and the values you will live by that will cause you to have an impact well beyond your own lifetime.

You will realize, as I, that so much of what we do and so much of what consumes our thoughts is rather petty, small and insignificant. By reflecting on the life you should have lived, now instead on your deathbed, you can make the changes while there is still time. You can make the changes to leave the legacy you want, and make your funeral, whether decades or just years from now, a celebration of a life well lived. Now go and plan out how you’re going to make them dance in the aisles.

Working With Your Assistant

Your most important ally at your firm is your legal assistant. She does the things that make you look good and frees up time to tackle bigger, more important tasks. If you want to succeed at your firm, foster a respectful, caring relationship with your secretary and with the rest of the staff. How do you do that? Consider the following:

Be considerate. Your secretary is first and foremost a person. She wants and deserves to be treated with respect, consideration and appreciation. Think about your superiors in your firm. Do any of them treat you poorly? Treat you as fungible? How do they make you feel? How willing are you to go the extra mile for them? When it comes to staff, follow the golden rule - treat them the way you would want them to treat you.

Curb emergencies. How often do you find yourself asking your secretary to stay late because of an “emergency?” How often is it truly an emergency and how often is it poor planning on your part? Whenever you work on a project which will require your secretary’s help, get her involved early in the process so that she can do her job well before five.

Get involved. We all have interests outside of work. Many of us are involved in charities or organizations that we care deeply about. If your secretary has such an interest or involvement, see how you can help. Maybe you can help her with a food drive for a local shelter or lend a hand revitalizing the local youth center. Her appreciation will show up in her work.

Respect personal time. During the eight hours your secretary is at work, spouses will call, family emergencies will arise and issues from the home front will have to be dealt with. Give your secretary the time and space to deal with them. Attempts to stamp out these interruptions in the work day will only serve to alienate your secretary and ironically, make her less, not more, productive.

Be clear and precise. When asking your secretary for help, give clear and precise direction to ensure that you and her are on the same page regarding assignments. Consider taking the extra couple of minutes to write a detailed e-mail about what you want accomplished. The extra time you spend at the beginning of an assignment will be recouped when you get back exactly what you asked for.

The key to working well with yours secretary and your staff is taking the time to put them first so that they can follow your lead and put you and your cases first. To be served, you must first learn to serve.

Staying on Top of Your Cases

Handling 30, 40 or more cases is not unusual for a litigator. How do you stay on top of all them? How do you make sure you meet all the deadlines, prevent things from falling through the cracks and push your cases toward a successful resolution? Consider the following tips.

The most important fifteen minutes of the day. After pouring your morning joe and settling into your office, you are about to embark upon the most important fifteen minutes of the day.

Whether you squander them or not is entirely up to you. In the next fifteen minutes, you can either jump into the day’s work without a thought of how you want the day to unfold or you can develop a plan for the day (as well as the days and weeks to come). Take fifteen minutes to do the following:

Review your calender. See what is on your calender for the day, the week and the month ahead. Think about what needs to be done that day and what needs to be started upon to meet deadlines that are days or weeks away. Planning your day based solely on what is on the immediate horizon is a recipe for having a career driven by emergencies.

Keep a case list. Keep a list of all your cases, adding new ones as they come across your desk and removing ones as you close them out. First thing every morning, review the list to evaluate what phone calls you need to make, what e-mails you need to send and whatever else you need to do.

Keep a to do list. Keep a running list of assignments on a Word or Word Perfect document which you add to as you receive new assignment and shorten as you complete assignments. After you look at your calender and case list, look at your to do list, and see what else needs to be done.

Keep a short to do list close at hand. On a post it, write down the things "you must" finish today. On a second post it, write down a few more things you "would like" to get done today. Those post its will direct your activity for the day.

Keep a clean desk. Nothing should stay on your desk except for what you are currently working on. Everything else needs to be passed onto your secretary, another attorney in the office or the file room. To the extent you have several outstanding projects, develop a filing system in your office where you keep these documents somewhere other than in piles on your desk. For example, I use a stack of trays I keep behind me on a book shelf, where I keep documents related to outstanding projects I am working on. Once I am done with one, those documents leave my office immediately.

If it takes less than five minutes, do it! Get in the habit of doing things immediately, whether returning phone calls, responding to e-mails, or answers questions or requests by clients or others at the firm. This way, you tackle the project when it is freshest in your mind and you avoid your to do list from growing and further avoid paper from accumulating on your desk.

Staying on top of your cases can be challenging. However, by developing a system that works for you and sticking to it, you can ensure to reduce surprises and emergencies to a minimum.

Preparing Your Client for Deposition

The most important deposition in a case is not the opposing party’s. it is your client’s deposition. The admissions he makes can hand a summary judgment or a favorable jury verdict to the other side. To avoid that, consider the following when preparing your client for deposition.

It takes time. Make time. Preparing your client for deposition is time-consuming. For every hour you expect his deposition to last, plan on spending three preparing him.

Prepare early. Don’t wait until the day before (or even the week before) the deposition to start preparing your client. Preparations should start before opposing counsel sends out the notice.

Prepare a document binder for your clients. The worst feeling in the world is seeing your client being asked questions at deposition about a document he has never seen before. To avoid this, procure all the relevant documents through your case investigations, requests for production and third party subpoenas, and prepare a binder of all the documents you expect your client to see at deposition. Mail him the binder, have him review them at his leisure and then go through them in detail with him in person.

Conduct a mock deposition. Just as your client should not see a document for the first time at deposition, he should not be asked a question for the first time at deposition either. Ask him every question you expect opposing counsel to ask him. Neither you nor your client should be surprised by any of the answers he gives at deposition.

Videotape the mock deposition. Consider video taping the mock deposition and viewing portions of it with your client. Discuss with him his delivery style, his body language and his answers. Seeing oneself on video can be very educational.

Tell the truth. There are all sorts of rules attorneys tell their clients to follow at the deposition. The first and foremost is to tell the truth. A witness never has to worry about “keeping his story straight” or wondering if opposing counsel is going to trip him up on one or more of his answers if he sticks to the truth.

Give your witness a deposition transcript. You can describe a deposition all you want. You can even subject your client to a mock deposition. But there’s no substitute for an actual deposition. To give your client the complete experience before subjecting him to it, consider giving him a transcript or even a DVD from another deposition.

Strike the proper balance. There is no question that your client can sink the case with the words that come out of his mouth. Of course, he can become so conscious of this, that his nerves get the best of him. Treat the client in such a way to convey the importance of his deposition without making him impotent with fear.

Your client’s case may rise or fall on the words that come out of his mouth. Make sure he knows to choose those words carefully.