Gerry Spence died yesterday, August 13th, at 96 years of age. I have known him for over thirty years. Gerry was a giant among the plaintiff and criminal defense trial lawyers of this century. He was a true legend in his time. It was over thirty years ago in the small town of Poulsbo on the Washington coast that I first met Gerry Spence. Gerry was there to receive an award, and one early morning, at a bed and breakfast…
A significant number of substantial jury verdicts are being obtained in trials lasting only a short time compared to the length of previous jury trials in major damage cases. Two recent examples involve a Washington federal jury case for wrongful termination resulting in a $5 Million dollar jury verdict that lasted less than three days. The federal judge, in that case, limited the lawyers to thirty minutes for voir dire, fifteen minutes for opening statements and closing arguments to twenty…
No matter what our level of experience, the use of reminder outlines should be part of our trial preparations. Commercisl pilots, with hundred hours of experience use checklists before flying the aircraft. Checklists serve not only as reminders, but allow us to have a basis for improvement. The checklist need not be detailed, but it should have the basic topics to cover. By keeping the outline on file you can use it in the future as well as serving as…