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Win Your Case with Bob Leonard, Board Cerrified Famly Law ExpertPreparation Pays Off

Imagine that you have been involved in a lengthy lawsuit and your case is finally going to trial.

Your attorney has all the documents to help prove your case all lined up and in proper form for admission in the trial.

You have your list of properly subpoenaed witnesses and your attorney has interviewed the witnesses and is ready to use them to your best advantage.

Your attorney has worked to prepare you for what to expect in court and has developed a strategy to win your case.

Then, you get on the witness stand.  Within minutes your case is devastated simply because the judge did not like you.   Perhaps the most important characteristic for a party to a law suit (other than having the facts on their side) is humility.  Judges want their parties to be humble and human.   I actually had a trial once where the facts were overwhelmingly on our side but after my client testified, the judge took the lawyers into her chambers and said “well now I hate both of your clients.”  Although we prevailed, it was certainly an uncomfortable feeling for a little while.W

The characteristic of humility actually helps your case in several ways by earning:

1.         Respect from the judge and the court.  Even if the facts are not entirely on your side, the judge will respect someone who is humble and willing to admit their weaknesses.  A humble person will be obedient to court orders.  I have actually had clients that feel that they can disobey court orders with impunity.  In almost all cases, the judge finds a way to punish them.

2.         Respect from the other party.  Most cases are resolved somewhere between the time that the case arises and the time that the judge actually decides the case.  Since well over 95 percent of cases are settled, it is oftentimes best to give the other side a reason to settle.

3.         A Show of Consistency.  Psychologists have a term that they use for cases where what someone sees does not coincide with what the person doing the seeing believes is the case, cognitive dissonance.  In other words, if I am predisposed to believe that every blue eyed person is a crook, you will have a lot harder time convincing me of the innocence of someone with blue eyes.  Another way to look at it is that experience clashes with expectation.  If the facts are good and they show that you should prevail, then the person hearing the case, be it the judge or a jury, needs to hear testimony that is consistent with those facts.   Humility may be your most important asset in trial.

If you think the way you are feeling about your case could cause you to appear arrogant or angry in court, discuss it with your attorney.  Even if you don’t think there is a problem, if your attorney thinks there is a problem heed the warning!  Taking care of this issue should immensely help your case.

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