More Thoughts on Cross Examination at Trial

Sometimes during cross-examination, things don’t go as planned. The witness may give a bad answer or the judge may cut off a line of questioning even though the lawyer really wanted to continue it. In those events, a lawyer is usually best served by remaining calm. Acting like these are huge losses may communicate to others that even the lawyer thinks their case is in bad shape. And while those losses are scary in the moment, a trial often has numerous opportunities for each side to make its case.

Serving the Summons Again

Judges can strictly enforce rules, even if it means treating service as proper when the defendant did not physically receive the summons. If a defendant does not update her address in public records, it is possible she may not be able to say that service on an old address was insufficient. And if a defendant does not pay attention to the documents delivered to her home or office, her lack of diligence is no excuse.

The Audience

Most of the time I have seen courtrooms with full audiences are when a judge convenes a hearing for the same time (or close to the same time) as other hearings. As a result, many people are in the audience since they are waiting for their own case to be called. It can be smart to come early to see how the judge conducts business in other cases to help prepare to argue before the judge in your own case.

Litigation in Guatemala

Guatemala is known for its natural beauty, architecture, and strategic position withing Latin America, which led to the current development of its Interoceanic Corridor. While its tropical climate is one of its great attractions for many, the Guatemalan legal system shares the strengths and weaknesses of most of Latin America.

More Representations and Warranties

The distinction between “representations” and “warranties” may be academic, as they both are promises about the truth of certain facts, but generally a representation is a promise about the present, and a warranty is a promise about the future. For example, a product seller may represent that they are not aware of any defects in a product, but they may warrant that, if defects are found, the seller will repair or replace the product in the future.

Movies About Lawyers

Depositions instead are usually dull. If you're not asking or answering the questions, it can be easy to nod off. So to make movies of them necessarily requires some dramatic license.

Litigation in Singapore

The Singapore Courts deal with a high volume of all sorts of commercial disputes. The Singapore International Commercial Court specialises in international commercial disputes and streamlines complex cases with informed judges. The panel of judges in this court is populated by international judges sitting with local judges. Other areas can be just as focused, with the judges hearing cases within their domain expertise.

Comments on Recent Cases: June 2026

Defendants in litigation often cite the statute of limitations to argue that the court should dismiss a claim because the plaintiff waited too long before asserting it. But applying time limits to claims is not always straightforward.

As we saw in the prior case, employment discrimination plaintiffs usually have a list of events about which they complain in litigation. While each of the events could support a discrimination clam, some of them may still be excluded from a lawsuit for being too distant if they are not tightly linked to actions within the time limit for filing a claim.

More Thoughts on the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods

Parties can determine whether the CISG is helpful for them based on whether they prefer its terms over the ones found in another applicable law. But putting those substantive differences aside, I believe that there is a significant benefit to the CISG, and a significant drawback.

Antitrust Litigation

Some Antitrust conduct is illegal “per se,” which means it is always illegal. Agreeing to fix prices or refusing to sell to certain consumers fits this definition. But other conduct can still violate the law. Courts apply what they call the “rule of reason” to determine whether the defendants conduct is so unreasonably anticompetitive, given the particular circumstances, that it violates the law.

Litigation in Uruguay

Unlike common-law systems where paying the other party’s legal fees helps limit unnecessary litigation, each party pays its own legal fees in Uruguay. There are two exceptions: judgment enforcements and egregious behavior.

Comments on Recent Cases: May 2026

Defamation claims can be difficult to prove. This is because the law protects statements of opinion from litigation, and a qualified privilege often applies that shields statements from liability unless the plaintiff can establish the defendant made the statement maliciously. These legal shields do not prevent the cost and burden of litigation altogether.