Subititled The Educaiton of a Courtroom Lawyer, John C. Tucker was a Chicago trial lawyer in the last century who, in retirement, wrote about a few of his cases while offering insights into the job.
The firm had decided not to take on routine insurance-defense work lest it create a group of “insurance-defense” lawyers who would be viewed as second-class citizens. (page 4)
(Many private lawyers, having long since used up the fee they collected, would have moved heaven and earth to avoid anoth3er trial by persuading their cliens to plead guilty; but to the intense displeasure of prosecutors and judges, pro bono lawyers were often perfectly willing to try the case again. After all, we were in it for the epxerience, not the fee.) (page 13)
The pathologist had removed the heart and reported its weight and dimensions. In relation to the victim’s body size, it was enormous – a sure sign that for many years her heart had been failing, causing it to become larger as it worked harder to perform the vital function. (page 17)
It would take many more years to learn the problems (and opportunities) associated with the arrogance of so many experts, especially their inability to say “I don’t know” in answer to any question. (page 19)
If the people you worked for liked you and thought you were a good lawyer, and if the firm’s business held up well enough that making you a partner did not adversely effect the income of the existing partners, and if you had or seemed likely to develop some significant clients of your own (or had developed an expertise so essential to servicing existing business that the firm could not afford to let you go), then yes, you would likely become a partner between eight and ten years after you graduated from law school – but those were quite a fes ifs. (page 37)
I took those and other “white collar” criminal cases for lawyers, doctors, and businessmen because I liked trying cases, and unlike the civil cases that made up the bulk of my practice, the criminal cases almost always went to trial. Some I won, some I lost. (page 337)
Lawyers should be careful what they wish for, expecially before asking for summary judgmetn where it may not be justified. If, like Continental Bank, you win and then get reversed, you’re often worse off than if you’d bit the bullet and tried the case. (page 338)
The current emphasis on the bottom line has a special impact on trial lawyers. Profit expectations require hourly rates to be set so high that only major corporations can afford them, and their cases almost never go to trial. You may get moderately rich as a “litigator” for big companies, but if you try a case only once every five years, you won’t become much of a trial lawyer. (page 341)
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