This week I received a verdict in a eleven day survival action case. The verdict is a total defeat. My client the estate of decedent takes nothing. I estimate my law partner and I including our legal staff spent over 400 hours on the case. We likely have $40,000 in costs advanced which we will not be paid by the insolvent estate. Below are my thoughts:

What We Control. We cannot control the result. What we control is preparation and work before and during trial. For me this means  countless hours before trial and 15 hour work days including weekends after the trial begins. We gave our best effort and there is nothing more we could have or would have done. There is satisfaction in knowing this.

Taking Cases. They say if a lawyer wins all of his trials he is not trying enough cases. Well I am trying enough cases because I lose sometimes. The case I just lost was a hard case factually and legally. I know the decedent’s family. I took the case because I am their lawyer. They wanted justice for the death of their son and for this they came to me.

Jury Instructions. Before I file a case I have a solid understanding of the facts and the jury instructions to appreciate the rules the jury will follow when making its decision. This gives me an appreciation my opening and closing and the evidence in between.

Continue to Stand for Justice. I will continue to take tough cases. After all I am a trial lawyer and this means I must enter the arena. To quote Theodore Roosevelt:

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Posted by: Trudell | Permalink | Email This Post