I have tried numerous business cases with a fine record of success.  Trials are, however, an uncertain process, and if one tries enough cases, the most skilled trial lawyer will eventually lose a jury verdict.

When a trial lawyer hears an adverse verdict in court, should s/he walk away, shoulders slumped, counting for vindication on the power of an appellate brief due many months hence?  No.  A trial lawyer’s efforts to reverse an adverse jury verdict begins while the jury is still standing in the jury box.

The first question one must ask, seconds after hearing an adverse verdict, is whether the verdict is ambiguous or contradictory.  read more

I try business cases for a living.  A trial is, boiled down to its essence, a chance to tell your client’s story, in a relatively short period of time, to a captive audience that for the most part has no legal training.  The story you tell is usually backed up by a limited number of exhibits and graphics that hopefully underscore your theme.  Except if you get a legal professional or two on the jury, the jury’s entire legal training consists of twenty minutes at the end where the judge reads jury instructions in a boring monotone.  I spent three years in law school and almost thirty years in practice figuring out how to apply facts to legal standards.  read more