Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave D
Those of you who are litigators, how do you deal emotionally or whatever with r-tard opposing counsel? I'm usually a pretty calm person but I'm losing it with this one who keeps asserting stuff that just isn't true (like statutory just wrong) or no, I already told you that's wrong, see this proof. It's one of my side cases and I've just never seen anything like this. Her client was even worse than her to deal with and I was hoping he would retain someone with some sense.
A few things,
I think last time you posted ITT you said you were doing government work. It sounds like you are in the PI game now. While it is possible that opposing counsel is wrong, it takes more than an evidence class or book to be decent at litigation. You have to be in court constantly to get the experience that makes you a good litigator. The guy might very well be right. He could also be wrong, which brings me to...
Even if you are 100% wrong, it is not necessarily the wrong move to make that argument. There are times that you might want to:
(1) The judge may have been sympathetic to that argument in the past. After all, judges are people too. Judges make wrong decisions all the time.
(2) Rattle the opposition. When somebody loses their cool in court, they tend to lose. Lawyers have this overwhelming need to be
right. That need to be right can be a malignancy that puts you at a disadvantage, especially when you are up against a very experienced lawyer that recognizes this principle and knows how to exploit it.
So what do you do? You do not argue with opposing counsel at all. Why are you making arguments at your opposition? Is he just going to wilt and succumb to your intellectual superiority? If opposing counsel is wrong, you file a motion and you make your arguments to
the judge, the person that can actually do something about the other side being wrong.
Personally, I loved it when I had brand new prosecutors walk in, head held high, yelled at me and told me that if I didn't succumb to their amazing courtroom prowess and insurmountable evidence, that they were going to make sure my clients were punished for my hubris. It was my reason for getting out of bed in the morning.