Max would like to share some friendly tips from Judge Don Bridges on how to lose a good case.
- You are late for court.
- You do not recognize your clients.
- You fail to communicate with your client.
- You are not familiar with the facts of your case.
- You fail to know the applicable law.
- You fail to cite all of the applicable law.
- You fail to know your audience (judge or jury).
- You are not cordial with the court personnel.
- You fail to treat personnel the same as you treat the judge.
- You do not err on the side of formality.
- You fail the SOP Test (Show Organization and Preparation).
- You do not keep things moving (dead air).
- You fail to take the time to present your evidence.
- You take shortcuts without hints from judge.
- You fail to keep it Professional at all times.
- You fail to Mark the Exhibit and show it to Opposing Counsel.
- You fail to label and organize all exhibits in advance.
- You do not have a sufficient number of copies of each of your Exhibits.
- With the exception for strategic reasons, you fail to furnish copies of Exhibits to your opponent in advance of court.
- You fail to keep track of exhibits with master list (One good way to do this is through the use of a spreadsheet document).
- You prepare brilliant questions for the witnesses, but fail to listen to the answers.
- You let down your guard or have a lapse in attention.
- You fail to object to improper questions by your opponent or the proffer of incompetent evidence.
- You accept verbal stipulations offered by your opponent.
- You use boiler plate discovery in every case.
- You fail to actually read your discovery before service.
- You waste my time with silly discovery disputes.
- You fail to read and remember your opponent’s pleadings.
- You fail to read and remember your own pleadings.
- You fail to refine the issues in advance of trial through stipulations and pretrial order and request to admit.
- You fail to admit the obvious—keep your credibility with the court.
- You fail to present your case with some “flair” but rather just go through the motions.
- You fail to be creative—judges get bored with the same old same old stuff.
- You do not know the Local Rules or the Rules of Civil Procedure or the Rules of Evidence.
- You argue with the judge: you persuade a judge and do not engage in argument with the judge.
- You let your opponent get under your skin (you cannot take anything as “personal”).
- You assume that an exhibit (yours or your opponent’s) will be admitted into evidence as a matter of course.
- You are not willing to dig through the evidence.
- You appear to be intimidated by your opponent.
- You never try to intimidate your opponent.
- You do not know when to stop talking (whether to the judge or in asking questions of a witness).
- You fail to get to the point.
- You fail to identify the pertinent issues for the court.
- You waste time by chasing rabbits.
- You fail to assemble the evidence and witnesses that you need before the hearing.
- You fail to adhere to the rulings of the court.
- You continue making the same mistakes.
- You act like a child (and the judge will treat you like one).
- You take a cheap shot at your opponent.
- You remember that it is a small world and what goes around comes around.