The Ability to Organize Great trial lawyers spin plates. Lots of plates. (Those of you who do not remember "The Ed Sullivan Show" may not appreciate this metaphor. Learn about it here.) Law firm management requires time. Training of associates and others requires time. Bar associations require time. Families require…
The American Bar Association has released four additions to its "Civil Trial Standards." The new standards addresss these topics: Use of Tutorials to Assist the Court, Summary Exhibits and Witnesses, Organizing the Complex Case for Trial, and Judicial Involvement with Settlement. Some of the earlier standards (Juror Notebooks, Juror Questioning…
The Ability to Pull the Trigger Trial lawyers a required to make a large number of decisions. Some are minor (e.g. do I ask this interrogatory in this case?) and some are major (e.g. should I settle with one of multiple defendants in a case in which several liability applies?). Great…
Regular readers know that one web site I frequent is that of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel. Its "Hot Cases" section frequently has cases from other jurisdictions that I find interesting and its quarterly magazine has articles I enjoy reading. Here is an interesting article that discusses how to…
Tennessee ranks 12th of the 50 states on the U.S. Tort Liability Index. The list measures the tort climate from the standpoint of the business and insurance community, so a rank of "1" is a pro-business, pro-insurance company state and a rank of "50" is that dark, dreary place inhabited…
Did you know that there was a statute that permits you to use demonstrative aids during closing argument (and probably during opening statement as well)? Here is a statute for your trial notebook. T.C.A. Sec. 20-9-303 permits a lawyer "to use a blackboard, models or similar devices, also any picture,…
I have written on the subject of case selection on this blog in the past. Here is a link to an article on the subject that I had published recently in Trial magazine. (Available only to AAJ members). I gave a speech on this subject recently in Memphis and generally…
The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that a defendant employer may not avoid a claim for negligent hiring, training, supervision, or entrustment by simply agreeing that it is vicariously liable for the actions of its employee. In James v. Kelly Trucking Company, the Court said that just because a…
The Tennessee Court of Appeals has affirmed an en banc ruling of the Tennessee Claims Commission and ruled that the the State was liable for damages suffered by a college student as a result of being beaten after she left a parking garage on the University of Tennessee campus. To…
It’s over. Rebecca Blair and I have been in trial in Columbia, Tennessee since February 25, 2008. Our client was a eleven year-old boy who lost his 34 year-old mother to hyperkalemia (an excessive level of potassium which causes the heart to stop) a little over three years ago. Ginger…