In a matter I was working on with my colleagues, there was enormous, generally very interesting internal debate on a jurisdictional question. Most of the debate was legal — whether we could file in a certain jurisdiction, and how, and the consequences of doing so, and all that — and some of it tactical — “is this in our client’s best interests to be here, rather than there,” and all of that. Eventually, we filed. The jurisdiction issue didn’t come up at all, we beat a motion to dismiss, and went on to win the case.
While we probably spent more time in our prefiling work on this jurisdiction issue than we did on any other legal issue, it was wise of us to not bring it up later. And the reason, in short, is straightforward: no one cares. A bit longer: the judge and her clerks didn’t care, and if we got to a jury, they certainly wouldn’t care.
That can be a tough realization as a trial lawyer: you spend so much of your day, or days, on issues that you find interesting. But your client won’t care (she just wants to be counseled and win, and she’s right to focus on that). The judge or arbitrator generally won’t care (they generally want to do justice, and they’re right to focus on that). And the jury won’t care (the whole point of our jury system is for jurors to be citizens who involve themselves in our political process by finding facts and hearing stories, while, I definitely believe, trying to do justice, and they are right to focus on that, and not care much about the diversity statute which they have never heard of, and would anyway be confused by given the more common use of the term “diversity” these days).
As noted, this is all as it should be. What we, as lawyers, must do, is keep our eyes on the ball. Let’s have fun with the work. Let’s enjoy the legal challenges, or other challenges. And, to be clear, addressing those challenges may help our clients win without them even thinking about it. I’m sure Indy car teams use certain fuel or car components to help their drivers win even if the drivers have no idea sometimes what’s under the hood or flowing through the pipes. In our cases we do need to know what’s best to keep under the hood, or what fuel to use.
But we need to be professional and remember that all these others we report to, in one way or another, don’t care, and that’s fine. To win for our clients, let’s focus on what they, and judges, and juries, and arbitrators do care about.
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.