Jim Perdue Sr is a Texas trial lawyer who has a fifty year history of great plaintiff trial work. We are friends through our membership in the Inner Circle of Advocates. He has published books, videos and articles about trial work and is a national lecturer on the subject. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center as a lecture on trial skills. I’d like to share some brief points about communication from one his…
John Godfrey Saxes poem about an Indian legend had these lines: It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind. The First approach’d the Elephant, And happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl: “God bless me! but the Elephant Is very like a wall!” The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried, -“Ho!…
When I started my plaintiff’s trial practice it soon became apparent to me that, like or not, I was involved in sales – professional sales – but nevertheless sales. I was selling myself to prospective clients, selling an idea or legal position to judges and selling my client’s case to juries. The first place I was professionally selling was to clients because it became apparent to me that I needed to have clients agree to hire me in order to have a…