A blog about the work lawyers do to win commercial disputes by Will Newman
I try to let clients know that I understand what they are going through. It may make a lawyer easer to trust if they recognize the emotional challenges that client may be going through because that may mean they have more emotional intelligence, or at least experience with similar issues.
Read MoreOur national procedure system (or Procedure Code) establishes two big ways of producing evidence before trial, even though both of them requires the involvement of the judge and, in one of them, of the counterparty also.
Read MoreCourts typically defer to the decisions of arbitrators, even when they believe that the arbitrators made a mistake. This is because federal law implements a policy where people can rely on arbitration being quick and final and not just the first step towards a lengthy litigation process. Still, people still attempt to appeal in court and, sometimes, they win.
Read MoreClients often hire lawyers in their own community. And those lawyers typically are allowed to appear in the local court. But sometimes clients hire lawyers from another community than the one in which the relevant court is located. This has happened a lot in my work, and so I wrote a post about lawyers being temporarily admitted to a different court. A few years later, I write to update the post.
Read MoreLawyers do not wear a robe and should instead wear formal business dress, though sometimes they dress casually.
Read MoreWhile a plaintiff in litigation can recover money owed without a written contract on the principles of basic fairness, the existence of a written contract often prohibits recovery on fairness or “equitable” grounds. But litigants often debate when a written contract exists.
Read MoreThe bulk of the relevant material may be there since it includes the materials the parties thought to ask for and that counsel identified as being relevant. But there may be relevant information elsewhere! And so a creative litigator thinks outside of the box and searches for more facts that may be useful.
Read MoreWitnesses swear to tell the truth at the start of their depositions, just as they do when they testify in court. And violating that oath is technically a crime, just as it would be for lying in court. And a court reporter makes a verbatim transcript of the deposition, which allows lawyers to submit the exact same testimony at trial.
Read MoreI find the bar down here to be pretty genteel, but that may just be true of most smaller jurisdictions that are not trying to be high-powered legal centers. When I started down here it was perhaps better dressed than NYC (most people still wore suits to the office), but that’s largely faded away and we’re business casual like everywhere else.
Read MoreMany people seek mediation to resolve disputes rather than initiate or proceed with litigation. As part of the mediation process, parties often submit a written statement to the mediator to explain their positions. These statements are often confidential, especially since they may make concessions in an effort to strike a settlement. Courts respect that confidentiality.
Read MoreAnswers are usually relatively inexpensive documents to draft because they do not need to be well-crafted narratives that persuade people of the defendant’s innocence. Defendants have other opportunities in a lawsuit to explain their story, such as in motions to dismiss the case and at trial.
Read MoreA complaint is often an effort to prompt a settlement. Defendants and their attorneys often review a complaint to assess whether it looks like it states claims that pose a likelihood of success and whether the lawyers who drafted it seem sufficiently serious and intelligent lawyers to actually win a case or to negotiate reasonably. Complaints with clear errors or bizarre hyperbole may suggest that a negotiation would be unproductive or even unnecessary.
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