Articles Tagged with “Trial Practice”

Trial lawyers are problem solvers. That is what they have to do and what their clients expect them to do. The biggest problem they face is how to persuade a jury. After all, the last time a trial went completely as planned was probably the first time one ever did.

Trial attorneys often rely on experts, and expertise, to win their case. The idea is that the average juror will recognize that the experts, whether lawyers or expert witnesses, know best and will follow along. The best way to solve a problem, though, just might be to think outside the box, which is something experts, including trial attorneys, do not always do best.

New research shows that finding creative solutions, from unexpected places, often leads to the best results, and that average people often can solve even complex, highly technical, problems better than experts and computers alike. Though the research has to do with molecular science, it sheds light on how you can win a trial.

Researchers, from Carnegie Mellon and Stanford University, have set out to better understand how RNA, which is one of the three macromolecules essential for human life, is designed. The hope is that this can lead to better ways to treat, or even cure, diseases or, believe it or not, even lead to building better computers, with RNA.

Normally the researchers would have done what they do best: conduct the research themselves. They would have used their knowledge, training, and experience to try to come up with the best designs. This time, however, they did something different: they invited people who had absolutely no special training, to design RNA. Surprisingly, or maybe not, those average people came up with far better designs than the experts.
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There is no shortage of trial attorneys in New York, or around the country. What makes a good trial attorney, however, is open to debate. How to become one is even more difficult to define. Is it something you can master through hard work and perseverance; is it something you have to have a natural aptitude for; or is it some combination of both? As we previously discussed, there is a lot of practice involved in trial practice. It is important to practice and to do it in the right way; but is it enough?

People believe they know a good trial attorney when they see one and often even when they don’t. Most people base their opinion, in large part, on results. Many believe that a good trial attorney is the lawyer who wins huge verdicts, defeats frivolous lawsuits, repeatedly gets his indicted clients off with not guilty verdicts or hung juries (Bruce Cutler comes to mind), or a prosecutor who finally does send the bad guy away for an extended prison stay (Andrew J. Maloney and John Gleeson sound familiar). Judging trial attorneys based on results alone is at least somewhat misleading. It ignores the fact that lawyers can only play the hand they’re dealt; it’s what they do with that hand that’s important. Would anyone argue that Johnnie Cochrane was a better trial attorney than Clarence Darrow, even though Darrow lost one of the most famous trials in modern history?

Even if the characteristics of a great trial attorney are hard to define, there most certainly are a large number of lawyers who would like to be one, and no shortage of qualified consultants to help them achieve success in any given case. The question is, can this be done and who, if anyone, can do it?