Trial Work is Like Acting or Playing Football

I just finished a trial in which I obtained a judgment for $400,000.00 on behalf of a commercial landlord against a restaurant tenant who stopped paying rents in October 2008 and later abandoned the premises by the end of 2008.  The purpose of this discussing/posting is not to pat myself on the back, but to express in some detail my thoughts on my performance at trial and express my thoughts from an acting or football paradigm.  In actuality, while the results were great, I am not too overwhelmed with my performance.

Truth be told, I believe I made quite a few mistakes, both in my preparation and at trial.  I believe that opposing counsel performed better during trial and almost stole the case.  With that being said, I believe we won because I had the better facts, argument and I was better prepared for trial. That is not to say that opposing counsel did a poor job representing his client, but rather he did a good job considering the case that he had.

After every case, I put myself through, what I intend to be, a post-case or post-trial debriefing.  I personally review everything I did, could have done or should have done and try to learn from the good and the bad.  I can recall only once, providing “perfect,” legal representation, which I may describe in a later article. It was the “Perfect Storm,” of legal representation.  To be certain, I am very tough on myself.  Of course, I get to see myself, warts and all, which is why my clients seem to be happier with my work then I do, which leads me to analogizing my trial or legal work to playing football or acting.

For those of you who don’t know this, I am an amateur actor.  I do live Community Theater when some director is foolish enough to offer me a part.  Funny thing is that I am now in my 19^th production in the last 4 years.  As in law, I rarely do a performance perfectly, no matter how much I prepare. There can be no doubt that I not only am prepared for every performance, but I most likely over prepare. Early on in my fledgling career as an actor, after every performance, no matter how complimentary someone might be about my performance, I would always verbally criticize myself by pointing out how I missed certain lines, was late with my lines, had to think about my lines rather than just deliver them, and on and on and on. I am sure that it got old to whoever heard me, very quickly.  I began to realize, however, that notwithstanding the mistakes that I might make during a performance, the better prepared I was, overall the better my performance, even with a few imperfections, that for the most part, the audience never knew about.

Football is not any different.  When was the last time that you’ve seen a team play a perfect game or had a perfect season? New England had a perfect regular season a few years back but ended up losing the Super Bowl. Teams commit penalties, miss catches or blocks and get intercepted once in a while or fumble the ball.  Even coaches make wrong calls.  Somehow, the better teams still win, despite mistakes and other adversities.

For my part, as long as I am still breathing, I will continue to strive for that perfect show, game or trial.  With that being said, it’s about time for me to stop beating myself up over some mistakes and treat them as lessons and apply those lessons to improve myself. Besides, my client’s think I’m perfect and don’t tell them about this posting.

Here is wishing you all a Happy and Healthy and as close to perfect holiday season.