Many so-called trial lawyers and litigators spend much of their time alone, behind a desk. That time is essential, which is why at our firm, we heavily discourage use of social media and phones during the day because it’s so distracting. You need uninterrupted thinking time, a lot of it.
But that’s absolutely not all you need. You need to get experience in being an advocate. You have to fight. Experience can be hard to come by, especially for a young lawyer, but take it any chance you get it.
I was in court a short while ago where the court attorney was spending her morning resolving the discovery disputes before her. While waiting for their case to be called, co-counsel in an unrelated case were having trouble even getting their adversary to hear their arguments. But the co-counsel stayed tough, kept pushing their much more senior adversary, and the cantankerous adversary counsel yielded, if only a little bit.
However, the issue didn’t even get addressed by the court as another lawyer didn’t show, and the argument was adjourned. That can be frustrating. But this is the business — adjournments when you don’t want them.
More to my point, the two relatively junior co-counsel had the opportunity to fight. Their adversary may have been difficult as a person, but more importantly she was difficult as a lawyer. She wasn’t yielding easily. She pushed and pushed. That’s exactly the kind of adversary you want to have to teach you to be tough and to push yourself.
I don’t know the details of the discovery dispute and I might have groaned (as I’ve seen many a court attorney or magistrate judge or arbitrator do) given that all this lawyer time (and legal fees) were being devoted to such a dispute. It’s beyond the scope of this short piece how our discovery process is utterly broken and doesn’t advance justice as it should.
However, for younger lawyers it creates a great opportunity to train. Serve your client, yes, but take advantage of those disputes to learn how to fight. Don’t just complain about your adversary, beat her, and learn from her (those cantankerous types can be quite effective). Don’t lower yourself to the base means of a lawyer you don’t want to be. But do learn from that lawyer.
This is only one example of what may seem like an unpleasant or not fun situation that can teach you. For example, there is nothing for lawyer or any age like being yelled at, unfairly, by a judge that will teach you how to grow and be tough.
John Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.