Part 1 based on my Plaintiff magazine article “Trial Lawyers: Actors or Boxers?”
For most of my career I considered a jury trial akin to a boxing match. Mano a Mano. I could score a knockout or get a decision, or I could go down for the count. Somebody was going to win and somebody was going to lose.
However, I began to change my mind about trials. Instead I began to see trials as ways of communication as opposed to violent conflict. I began to think of trial as art; as a creative expression.
Trial As A Stage Play
A trial may best be envisioned as a stage play with the following roles:
- Producer: the trial lawyer is the producer who puts up the money (case costs) and decides which play (case) will go on stage (to trial)
- Director: the trial lawyer is also the director who decides how the play is to be presented
- Cast: while the directors cast of characters consists of actors, the trial lawyers cast of characters consists of parties and witnesses
The Production: Telling The Story
Instead of actors speaking their lines from a script, the witnesses give their testimony based on the truth. The following are the elements of “The Production”:
- Testimony: the way actors speak their lines is an important part of the production, just as the manner which the witnesses testify is an important part of the trial
- Story: by speaking their lines, the actors tell a story, just like the witnesses tell a story through their testimony
- The Production: the director (the lawyer) decides which themes to emphasize and the order in which actors (witnesses) will be on stage (on the stand)
- Director and Lawyer: like the director who stars in his own movie, the lawyer is also an actor who is on stage during the entire trial
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
What role does the client play?
I want to acknowledge my friend and peer attorney John A. Shepardson of Los Gatos, California. Thank you John for your supportive comment (below) on my Plaintiff magazine article that was the basis for this blog article.
Gary Gwilliam says:
“This dichotomy of trial, art or sport, can be resolved by deciding the best and most effective way to try a case. We are in a conflicted profession full of stress and conflict. This wears us down. It takes away our energy. It compromises our immune systems. And trial is the worst conflict of all. If you visualize yourself as bruised and battled after each round, then trials become exhausting. You lose your energy. You don’t perform at your peak.
“On the other hand, if you are more relaxed and at ease, your energy will stay strong. You also have less fear and that is very important to effective trial practice. Actors don’t need to fear being bruised as boxers do. By changing your thinking from “trial as sport” to “trial as art” you are more efficient, less fearful and ulti¬ mately more successful. It’s also a lot more fun!”
JOHN A. SHEPARDSON, ESQ.