How Attorneys Handle Their Cases

Attorneys' reputations are made and lost by how they handle their cases. The same can also be said for paralegals. How you take a case from the initial client meeting to the settled and closed status shows every person in your office your abilities, skills, knowledge, determination, and commitment to be the client's service advocate.

And while some cases almost handle themselves because they are relatively straightforward, others require a tremendous effort on the part of everyone in vour firm to complete. Some cases flow along at a fast clip, with meetings, conferences, settlement discussions, and court appearances coming and going on the office calendar as if attached to the Jetstream. In these fortunate matters, the clients, defendants, attorneys, associated legal professionals, outside agencies, and the justice system all stay out of each other's way and get the case finished in a satisfactory amount of time for all concerned.


But other cases seem more like "tar babies," sticking to you and the other attorneys involved and refusing to let go. Countless hours of work and effort move them along to resolution by only a few fractions of an inch, while the size of the file itself grows by feet and yards. But just as the attorneys earn their fees on these "groaners," so do you earn your salary.
Difficult, time-consuming, or highly emotional cases are the exception rather than the rule in most law firms. However, their mere presence can cause unproductive and unhealthy shifts in the work load distribution, time management policies, and energy levels in the entire firm. Facing large, hard cases can be daunting, especially if you feel uncertain about the elements involved.

So what's the solution? Throw in the towel? Pass the tough cases off to other paralegals, other attorneys, or even other law firms? Not if you want to survive and thrive as a paralegal professional. The secret to handling potentially challenging cases is to follow the Boy Scouts' motto: Be Prepared!

The more work you can do in advance-at the beginning of the case, and as it progresses-the better off you'll be come "crunch time." While this sounds easy to say and hard to do, keep in mind that time is usually on your side at the start of the case. The more information you can gather, the more steps you can check off, the more physical "book and leg" work you can do at the start, the smoother the case will go, especially when deadlines, pressures, and other indicators of stress loom down the road.

Your role, as a paralegal professional, is to make your attorney's job easier. And since his or her job is to handle and settle cases and legal matters for clients, your "aide-de-camp" duties should entail most of the pick-and-shovel work for the case-preparing memos, calendaring dates, writing reminder notes, briefs, and client corre spondence, etc.-without being asked, reminded, or cajoled by any one else. The more you do for yourself early in the case, and the more you do for the attorney, the easier the case will become.

Paralegal Success Traits

Since most of your value as a paralegal professional stems from your case-handling, case-management abilities, you should already know that to get anywhere with even the most routine cases you must be able to dig, and dig, and dig some more for information. Go past the routine movements and push on; look for more information you can discover, verify, and add to the file.

You should already have set your sights on becoming a "case cracker"-someone who can find that one piece of information that puts the case over the winning edge. Any paralegal can handle the simplest and most routine chores; it's the pros who know what it takes to work past any arising difficulties to get the job done.

To become a case cracker, the sort of paralegal professional who tackles extraordinary cases with relish, you may need to make some visible changes in your work habits and even alter some of your personality traits. Here are some of the more important characteristics of case crackers:

1. Aggressiveness-They have a "never quit" attitude and an unwill ingness to give up on a lead, avenue of information, or problem until they have exhausted every effort. This is coupled with a desire to come to the office each day with specific goals in mind and ideas about ways to achieve those goals in a timely manner. Their phone skills are fully developed in such a way as to get the most information in the shortest amount of time. They stay focused on their tasks and don't get sidetracked by other distractions or discouraged by any obstacles that get in their way.

2. Ingenuity-They have the ability to look for the seemingly "wild" solution or some unique alternative that gets the job done for them in a way most people thought wasn't possible. They aren't afraid to be inventive, slightly illogical, or even a shade outrageous to solve a complex problem with a completely new approach.

3. Creativity-They tend to be highly innovative thinkers, able to see in more than one direction. Given a blank sheet of paper and a problem, they can come up with a large number of highly probable and effective solutions. They see things more in terms of many different channels rather than black-and-white, right-or-wrong approaches.

4. Big-picture thinking-They have a marked ability to take the "helicopter view" of any problem. By seeing the forest AND the trees, they don't get caught up in any one part of the prob lem to the exclusion of all others. They can see the entire problem and propose worthwhile multipurpose solutions accordingly.

5. Tolerance for ambiguity-In a world filled with people who want the right answer, and yesterday at that, they can wait patiently for information that fills in the entire picture. They can deal comfortably with unresolved, uncertain, or unfamiliar situations. These flexible people afford themselves an opportunity to delay their actions until they've studied the problem; they aren't committed to one solution at the expense of all others.

Traits like these separate merely good paralegals from great ones, Look at your own work habits and see if you can make some improve ments in the way you tackle problems and anticipate approaching challenges.

Thinking and Acting like an Investigator

A good PI tries to be a jack-of-all-trades, working not only as an investigator but also as a researcher, interviewer, analyzer, and lastly, a thinker. After getting a case from a law firm, a skilled investigator immediately prioritizes his or her tasks, thinking about where to start, who to contact for help, what issues to uncover, what potential problems to clear up, and how much time to spend doing research, talking by phone or in person to people, and chasing down other leads. This organizing process helps investigators save time and effort-not just theirs, but yours as well.

But while good investigators try to think of all the things they can do to complete a case, they also realize that to maximize their efforts they may need to "synergize" their approach. Some case-oriented tasks may be beyond their scope of expertise or knowledge, so they reach out into their large network of friends, colleagues, and peers to get good, qualified help with these various aspects. By coordinating the efforts of others, they can focus their activities on the parts of the case they feel best qualified to handle.

As an example, many investigators who work for personal injury and traffic-collision firms have some limited background in traffic-accident scene examination. This basic knowledge may carry them through dozens of traffic cases with few problems. But in more complex or serious cases, perhaps involving deaths, multiple cars, and multiple serious injuries or extensive amounts of complicated physical evidence like skid marks, scrapes, or equipment failures, these same competent investigators may need to call on colleagues with even more training.

Typically, accident reconstructionists have proven backgrounds in engineering, physics, vehicle accident characteristics, tire wear and skid mark evaluation, and even metallurgy. These highly trained re-constructionists become the investigator's own "expert witnesses," helping dis cover the truth in difficult cases where the weight of evidence is too overwhelming and important to leave to chance.

Just as some attorneys go outside their firms to hire veteran trial lawyers to take their cases to court, a good investigator will know his or her boundaries of knowledge and call on others for assistance when necessary.

As another example, if the investigator is asked to conduct a com plete asset search of a defendant, he or she may call upon a colleague with access to bank accounts, stock portfolios, real estate, or similar financial instruments. This associate, who deals in these areas on a regular basis, can get far more accomplished, and in less time, than the investigator.

And so it should go with you as the paralegal professional.

From the beginning of your career, gather names of people who can help you later. A paralegal who spends a few hours per month networking with colleagues in various legal, social, and professional organizations and attending society and association meetings can come away with a vast library of resources, all contained on single two-inch by three-and-one-half-inch pieces of paper known as business cards.

Be prepared to collect business cards and to give yours out in any social situation that may relate to your profession. Your goal should be to collect at least one Rolodex file, if not two, of competent professionals who may be able to give you assistance at some time in the future.

Reading More, Listening More, Talking Less

What constitutes the "real" truth is often hard to pin down in legal matters. The client, the defendant, and the attorneys for each side are hardly disinterested or dispassionate third-party observers. Their status as case participants always gives them an important stake in the proceedings. As such, their opinions and beliefs can get skewed by their positions in the case. In worst-case scenarios, the truth gets confused by what important people-judges, attorneys, juries, adjusters, etc.-may want to hear. The facts are often obscured by uncon scious interpretations.

Sometimes the only people who can rescue a sinking case from a series of accusations, arguments, and outright lies are the independent witnesses. Your role as a paralegal calls for you to be able to read "between the lines" of a written witness statement and dig deeply into what was said about the events in question.

Taking client, defendant, and witness statements at face value offers you only one side of the story. You must know how to get to the root of the matter through intelligent questioning skills.

If you're having problems settling a case, go back over the file for more help. Look at the statements and depositions made by all the parties. Spot the verbal clues, apparent misstatements, bald lies, and other issues that can give you a toehold into a new part of the case.

Don't be afraid to start again from the beginning. Make phone calls to your witnesses and re-interview them if you have questions after the first pass. Many new issues can have arisen in the weeks or months since you took a statement. Maybe you neglected an important detail; maybe some new information has changed the focus of the case; or maybe your investigator didn't cover a key area to your satisfaction.

When you ask your questions again, find out if the witness knows of any other people who might have seen what he or she saw. While this may seem like an obvious question, you'd be surprised at how many times you'll hear the witness say, "Oh, yeah, the barber who was cutting my hair at the time of the car accident looked out the window when I did. He didn't talk to the cops because he was busy with other customers."

Don't just rely on reports or other outside sources for your information; look for the answers yourself. For a traffic collision case, drive by the scene of the accident; take a look at the defendant's car if it's parked legally on the street; talk to the officer who took the police report; get a feel for the road and weather conditions at the time of the crash; see things from the client's car position, from the defendant's car position, and from the spot where the witness saw the accident.

In a crime case, go to the scene and reenact the events in your mind; look at the positions of people, fixed objects, barriers, and other distractions that may have kept the police, witnesses, or other accus ers from seeing what they said they saw. Get a feel from inside yourself as to what happened and how it happened.

In less dramatic cases, those that take place on paper, read the complaints of both parties, study their documentation of the proof, and put yourself in the other s position. Maybe you can see a chance of a new defense, a new argument, or a new way of answering a previously unanswered problem.

Rely on your outside, impartial observers for more help. Most people want to help you and will give you more than enough informa tion if you only ask for it in a polite and professional manner. You may learn of other interested bystanders, third parties who might contribute to your understanding of the case, and even the proverbial "little old lady who was outside watering her petunias when she saw the whole thing happen."

Learn to be more like a bulldog, seizing an important issue based on discussions with your attorney and really striving to pin it down before the case goes to court and before the other side learns about it first. Be polite, but don't take "no" for an answer when you're dealing with reluctant witnesses. If you can persuade them that their help is important, you can often turn an entire case around.

Remember to keep the big picture in mind and focus on your short- and long-term goals, as well as on those of your attorney.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

If everyone were as friendly, flexible, and cooperative as you are, it would be much easier to get your job done. Many people will help you if your requests aren't too time-consuming for them, but still it's better to be aware how they think and how they operate before you ask for their assistance.

Did you ever hear someone say about someone else, "He and I just don't seem to be communicating," or "She and I don't seem to be on the same wavelength"? These revealing statements point out that the way we communicate with each other is based on our perceptions of ourselves and of them.

Different people have different personality types. There are: prag matic "drivers" who want to get things done in a hurry; amiable "sociables" who like people and enjoy talking about a variety of subjects over and above what you want; and methodical, "analytical" people who prefer to think about things, and use facts, figures, and models to help guide their choices. How effectively you deal with each one of these types, either as a client in your office or as a witness over the phone, depends heavily on your ability to communicate in different ways.

Instead of trying to force everyone to think and react as you do-not unlike forcing a square peg into a round hole-you should learn to adapt to their personality types. You don't have to be clairvoyant to divine most personality styles because most people reveal them selves by what they say and what they do. You can discover the answers to how they think and feel in their personal habits and verbal clues.

"Drivers" tend to be action-oriented people. A typical "driver" witness will want to know who you are, what youVe calling about, and what you want to know, all in the space of about forty seconds. These people tend to be more aggressive than most and may be a bit more impulsive in their decision-making processes.

Since they have a "let’s do it now" attitude, the worst way to appeal to drivers is through long-winded explanations of what you want or need from them. Ask them your questions and then step back and wait for their answers.

If you have "drivers" for clients, the best way to help them help you is briefly to explain the procedures surrounding their cases and wait for their questions. They'll tell you what is important to them with a minimum of wasted time. Drivers tend to be less concerned with social niceties like the weather, the local news, or any other topics that they see as diverting their time or energy away from real issues.

To interview "driver" clients and witnesses, act as they do. Be specific; ask clear questions they can answer easily; and don't try to waste their time.

"Sociables" are on the other side of the personality scale from "drivers." "Sociables" tend to like people and have no trouble carrying on a long conversation about unrelated topics before they get to the business at hand. They tend to be more chatty and friendly than "drivers," with a more jx>sitive outlook that may be revealed in their bright style of dress, enthusiastic tone of voice, or their genuine con cern for you and your problems.

Whereas "drivers" need little prodding to tell their story and move on, "sociables" may need some careful guidance to stay on the subject and not drift off to other side issues that only complicate or delay things. "Sociables" also tend to think everyone else is like them and can get offended easily if you don't take the time to build rapport or establish a positive relationship before you begin questioning them.

You can recognize "sociables" by their need to have you set the stage for them before they start answering questions. They have to feel good about you before they open up and tell you what they know. If you have "sociables" for clients and as witnesses, the worst thing you can do is try to speed them along or give their attempts at relationship-building an apparent brush-off.

Lastly, "analyticals" tend to be much more pragmatic and closed than either "drivers" or "sociables." They have a tendency to hold their cards close to the chest until they can analyze the related parts.

"Analyticals" need to know the facts before they proceed. They like to read things and look at data in their hands before offering an opinion.

If you have an "analytical" as a witness to a traffic collision, let him or her look at the police report before you ask any questions. "Analytical" business clients will have plenty of hard copy for you to put into the file. They will give you charts, reports, graphs, maps, and other visual, fact-based models from their files. They expect to get as much "paper" from you as they give, for this helps them put their conceptual hunches in order.

The worst way to deal with "analyticals" is to ask for an immediate answer without giving them enough time to read the facts, sort them out, and prepare a conclusion for you. Whereas "drivers" tend to want to make snap decisions based on their gut feelings, and "socia bles" tend to want to establish a positive relationship before they begin, "analyticals" want time to look at the issues on paper, use their pens to make some notes or a sketch, and then give you their feedback.

Notice the key word "tend" that runs throughout each description of "drivers," "sociables," and "analyticals." These are only generaliza tions that we make about a person's personality type. In truth, most people are a combination of all three types. But while we each carry strengths and weaknesses from all three types, most people tend to gravitate to one distinct (and recognizable) style.

Knowing how to recognize these personality styles and being able to respond to them in a way that puts the other person at ease is your key to successful human interaction. Spotting noticeable trends in someone's personality can help you deal with clients, witnesses, and even your colleagues and co-workers on a more balanced and productive basis.