I’m running with Nala. Up near Kerry Park. The “Sleepless in Seattle” vantage point. We are a little late. Trying to get in run before heading to airport. To Austin TX to visit Noelle and JonJon for the weekend. Turn up a street to go a shorter route than usual. Nala’s leash hooks on a truck bumper. She jerks one way. I jerk the other. Down I go. Slow motion. Watch as my right knee jags to the left and back to the right. Fortunately I run slow.
Read MoreLearned last week that we did not win the nomination to be a finalist in the running to be the 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year for Public Justice. When Brad told me - he said - I know you don’t care. And he was right. Because I had given it almost no thought. It was an honor to be nominated. But our case was not the typical Public Justice type of fight. We weren’t a class action. It wasn’t about a toxic tort.
Read MoreR: I unfriended this woman I’d known awhile. I really liked her. But she said X and I just totally disagree.
K3: So sorry to hear that.
R: I’m so different than you. I’m just so emotional. you seem to be more objective and logical.
K3: Not really but I hear you.
R: I’m just so impatient with people who have opinions that are just completely different than mine.
Read MoreAs the courthouse doors clanged shut, the plaintiff bar and our clients watched helplessly as civil trials were pushed into the unforeseeable future. A general sense of gloom descended upon us. Now what, we wondered.
Read MoreLong before the coronavirus caused a world wide crisis that shut down courthouses, our civil jury trials have been slowly disappearing.
Read MoreTruck Pedestrian trial in February. Federal Court. Delayed indefinitely.
Wrongful death trial in March. Pierce County Superior Court. Delayed for a year.
Wrongful death trial in April. King County Superior Court. Delayed until October hopefully.
Judges don't like it when us attorneys can't stop bickering. They are irritated by having to deal with our exchanges of snipes, digs and downright insults.
Last month after a trial ended, two jurors followed me down to the courthouse lobby. They wanted to talk about what happened. Both commented on how impressed they were that the attorneys acted in a civil manner. Sure we disagreed with each other and objected and there were tense moments. But we were not overly disrespectful like the lawyers they saw on television. They appreciated that.
Read MoreThe day after.
Oprah talks about the power that our bad secrets hold over us. The amount of time and energy we spend keeping them hidden. The worrying that others will find out. The feelings of unworthiness that fester from trying to suppress our embarrassments.
Read MoreI told my kids a lot of stories when they were little. Pictures were good and well. But what they really liked was when I acted out the characters.
In trial opening is the opportunity to tell the story. There are no rules that say we need to read it and be boring. Over the years I have ben a bus, a cross walk, and other various objects or people when I've told the opening story. But look what happened in this case. The judge was not used to having a story told with quite as much dramatic flair.
Read MoreAn attorney asked me to help try a case a week before trial. Day one I arrived with a notice of appearance. The defense lawyer objected due to "unfair surprise." Overruled.
It was not a complex trial but the defense lawyer struggled. Mightily.
After the good (for us) verdict came in this is what the jurors said. They had a really hard time with how bad the defense lawyer was. They felt very sorry for the defendant for having such a poor lawyer. Closing argument was so awful they could not even "bear to look" at her. They had to make extra sure they didn't rule against the defendant because of counsel. So they tried to even things out. Thankfully they were able to give us a good verdict but this left a permanent impression with me.
Read MoreWe can't help it - us lawyers. We have to go to school for so long - it's no wonder we stop talking and thinking like real people. We say "prior" for before and "subsequent" for after. We love words with lots of syllables. Because this is what law school drilled into us.
In trial, we distance ourselves when we fail to communicate on a real person level. That's the beauty of having witnesses who are not experts. The jury can understand them.
Read MoreThe air starts crackling.
My mom, Mary Fung, has come to watch opening. Her smile stretches the width of her face. She is wearing a polyester blue and white teeny striped suit that I distinctly remember from the 1970s. Over a blue pair of Nike shock sneakers that I used to run in. Hair pinned up in its forever bun. She looks fairly adorable. Everyone in the courtroom smiles back at her.
Read MoreCar v. Pedestrian Jury Instructions W Cites FINAL.pdf
There was one pattern instruction in this set that we didn't like. The problem is - judges love pattern instructions. So it was given. A few months after this trial, that pattern was amended.
Even so, the jury did pretty much the right thing and this young woman received a nice verdict.
Read MoreFamily member testimony helps a jury understand the human impact of injury. The attorney will often become sidetracked by focusing on getting answers to specific questions that dot "i"s and cross "t"s. Stilted, formal, data-based questioning is a good way to shut down these valuable witnesses. Words after all, are less important than everything else that goes on when we form impressions.
Read MoreThe jury goes back into the deliberation room with two items: 1) exhibits; 2) written instructions.
It isn't good enough to simply submit your instructions. You have to argue for them. And if you lose, you have to create a record in the event of appeal.
Here is the transcript of the instruction argument from a trial I handled with my law partner Kevin Coluccio.
Read MoreEverything we say can be turned around and used against our clients. Lawyers are trained to analyze fact patterns in terms of logical progression. A leads to B which results in C. We think if we're logical that's good enough. But many of members of the public don't believe a thing lawyers say. According to various polls, we are one step above or below used car salespeople and politicians (no disrespect intended).
Read MoreIn trial, David Ball’s rule is to spend less time on showing fault than proving loss. His point - we are not going to trial to simply get a verdict of responsibility. It isn't enough for a jury to tell the defendant "you did it." The jury needs to make things right. Our country has decided that isn't done with "an eye for an eye." Instead, the jury sets a money value that is needed for the plaintiff to get back to even.
The defense wants to turn the jury's attention away from making things right. It does this by making the jury's job complex. The defense will fight even those cases where fault should be crystal clear.
Read MoreIf we could give jurors the full story, they wouldn’t be so suspicious and skeptical. Generally trial starts off with the jurors more suspicious of the plaintiff than the defendant. They think the plaintiff is probably very greedy and that’s why a case hasn’t settled out of court. They feel sorry for the poor defendant. Some of the laws and the judges who interpret the laws, make it even more difficult for a plaintiff to get a fair shake. They prevent the jury from hearing what is really going on. Here are the top three things that jurors have not been told in car crash cases that I’ve tried.20
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