One Month, Two Trials, Two Verdicts

We won a plaintiff's verdict on the pregnancy discrimination case earlier in February. Then, on the day that Nilda and I got married at City Hall, I took a call from work about a particular case. Nilda's still pissed at me for that. Last Friday, a jury came down with a verdict on that same case and we won on all counts. We represented three former employees who were sued by their former employer after starting their own business, and we won a defense verdict on all counts. We even won our crappy counterclaims. Almost four years to the day the lawsuit started, and the plaintiff owes the defendants money. Booyah. Here's what I've learned:

• Potential jurors hate lawyers. You have to go out of your way to appear like a normal person.
• Saying "objection" is as fun as it looks.
• You can tell you're conducting a successful cross examination when the jury turns their head from you to the witness, like it's a tennis match. Zing!
• It's fun when the judge tells you to approach during your adversary's questioning. It means he or she is in trouble.
• Talk to the jury after the trial to find out what worked and what didn't.
• You must must must have your witnesses look at the jury when they're testifying. It's awkward for the witness, but it's essential. The witnesses for the plaintiff never looked at the jury, and it's the first thing the jury brought up after the trial.
• One juror said that I was aggressive during questioning and kept hitting the same point over and over again. Sounds like I did exactly what I wanted to do. I'm a dick.
• When you're speaking too fast, trying talking like Barack Obama to slow yourself down. It makes...you...have...to slow down...your pacing.
• Summations are surprisingly fun. It's like having a conversation where you're the only person who gets to talk, and who doesn't want that?
• Waiting for a verdict is terrible and painful. There's no greater anxiety in the law.
• I once heard a lawyer say that trials are fun, which made no sense to me at the time. You work as hard as you can to avoid them, but when you get into court, you're ready to go and that's why you do it. He's got a point. I'll take a trial over an annoying motion for summary judgment any day. Of course, that's easy to say after two straight verdicts.

On another note, here's The Strokes playing their new single on SNL and it's awesome. I keep listening to it over and over again. I might actually pay for this album when it comes out. It's that good. I can't believe it's been 10 years since "Is This It" came out.