Don’t Forget the Significant Others Present at Court

With the current state of the economy, there's a rise in the numbers of new law graduates and young lawyers trying to set up things for themselves and going solo or floating small partnerships. While client management is the first and most obvious need, and is the gateway to success (something many lawyers are curiously able to do for quite a long time without understanding the law at all), sustaining success and growth depends upon delivery of service.
 

As long as the delivery of service is outside courtrooms, that is during negotiations, drafting, or other legal work – the parameters upon which the growth potentials of a lawyer are judged is different. However, once you set your foot inside the court – which you'd have to do if going solo or starting a small firm, things take on quite different perspectives from everyday law firm work. This is the place of worship for lawyers who are litigators and see litigation as the highest function of law. And here you need to be watchful of many things, and mind your manners above all things.


However, in courtroom practice, young lawyers can often castrate their growth by making slips they fail to mark. This happens because young lawyers are focused on their cases and their adversaries to the exclusion of all else – losing sight of the significant others present in the courtroom – the courtroom staff, other law firm staff, clients of other lawyers, and the judge or justices or jury. All of these people form the base of a dense social network for client acquisition and referrals and people who would be judging you every day based on visible performance. This article is essentially a brief checklist to keep things in mind that helps to draw the favor of those significant others present in the courtroom, and propel your career as a litigator forward and up. More significantly, this is a checklist that will help young lawyers not to alienate those significant others upon whom his/her career growth as a litigator depends.

Be on time

Tardiness is regarded with displeasure by all concerned and is considered disruptive of courtroom sessions. The tardy attorney throws off the schedule of everyone else and is pegged as someone who puts everyone concerned at inconvenience. Emergencies of an otherwise punctual attorney is pardoned – but tardiness is a sure shot way of nipping your career in the bud. Well, there are those attorneys, for whom the court and others do wait, and do not mind waiting, but they are not only highly established, but their occasions of being late are few and far between.

Be polite with adversaries

It's easy for young blood to get carried away in arguments and cross the borders of propriety and civil behavior. However, even a single instance of incivility is remembered in court circles and leaves a negative impression that is difficult to get rid of. Impolite behavior with adversaries quickly alienates a lawyer to both the bar and the bench as well as to all significant others. No judge likes to play the referee between two quarreling attorneys – judges like to solve the problems between the litigants not the problems between lawyers.

Long-windedness and beating around the bush

People in a courtroom see lack of brevity and failure to get directly to the point on the part of a lawyer as severe demerits. A succinct argument is a successful argument. Streamline your verbiage and make the legal issues clear, don't make others work harder to find out the meaningful things you intend to say. It gets noted, even court staff notice it, and the word gets around.

Being a casualty of casualness

Be serious and formal inside a courtroom. It's not the place for friendly chats and giggles or laughter. Casual behavior can put you in the bad books of everyone in a courtroom because it shows your disrespect for the process. Even in pleadings and while arguing, attorneys must address each other with their last names and honorifics even if they are bosom buddies outside the courtroom. While on record, do not address questions directly to opposing counsel, and do not show chumminess with him even in the court corridors – clients hate their counsel being chummy with opponent counsel.

Another major way by which you can become a casualty of casualness is by being insufficiently prepared. This usually leads to fumbling around for notes, being unaware of the issues, reading from pleadings in court, and other setbacks that usually puts you on the wrong foot. Being able to work yourself out of such situations is expected, but putting yourself in such situations in the first place is unexpected and unwanted.