Trial lawyers lean on staff to get through lengthy cases
by Morgan Chilson
Reprinted with Permission - Premium content from Kansas City Business JournalEighteen-hour days are not unusual when a trial lawyer is in court, facing the judge all day and then researching after hours and taking care of other clients.
Although the challenge of courtroom confrontations is why many lawyers enter the profession, it can require creative organizational skills to handle the cases that result in long trials, said Jim Eisenbrandt of Berkowitz Oliver Williams Shaw & Eisenbrandt LLP.
“There’s nothing more thrilling than trying a case,” he said. “We would not be in this business if we were not interested in the big cases, especially the work we do on the federal level. That’s where normally the long cases are.”
But exciting as the work may be, Eisenbrandt said, most attorneys need to be able to rely on lawyers and staff within their firms to cover work for other clients during long trials. His longest trial was the Baptist Hospital case, which started in mid-January and had closing arguments at the end of April.
“Fortunately now, with BlackBerries and communications such as they are, it’s easier to stay in contact than it used to be,” he said. “Most judges are very understanding that you can’t be in two courthouses at the same time, but occasionally that becomes a problem also. It’s just a matter of having to juggle all of those things.”
J.R. Hobbs of Wyrsch Hobbs & Mirakian PC called trials an “energy rush” but said no matter how prepared you try to be, things come up during trial that keep you working late hours.
“A trial is dynamic; it’s extemporaneous,” he said. “It’s not oration. A lot of times, in trial, even with advanced preparation, you’ll still be working several hours the next day for preparation for the following day in trial, as well as to draft letters on other cases.”
For Tom Bath Jr. of Bath & Edmonds PA, it’s like watching a steamship where you’ve got 24 gauges that keep the ship moving. Just because you’re concentrating on one gauge, it doesn’t mean you can ignore the others.
“Six- to 12-week trials — you go in, and it’s fall, and you go out, and it’s winter,” he said. “Those cases just tend to consume you.”
The biggest challenge during any trial, he said, is to free up time to work with new clients.
“For a criminal lawyer, you’re plowing 40 new acres of ground every quarter,” Bath said. “You have to get new clients and keep them coming in the door. They’re usually referred to you. It’s like a loose basketball: If you don’t jump on it, it’s going to go somewhere else.”
Pat McInerney of Husch Blackwell LLP said that working with an excellent team is the key to surviving trials that can stretch into months. Recently, for instance, he had done a lot of preparation to be in Topeka for 12 weeks on the Westar Energy Inc. case, a trial that did not come to fruition.
“We have a tremendous team of lawyers,” McInerney said. “If I’m lead counsel on two significant matters, there’s a lot that I depend on some of the other lawyers to do and to help me with. Otherwise, it’s just not doable. I can’t imagine being a solo and trying to prepare for two significant, really big cases.”
Another key consideration is making sure that clients who aren’t involved in the trial process understand the situation, McInerney said.
“I don’t think you can communicate with them too much about the impact of other cases,” he said. “Every client wants their case to be the most significant case. I overcommunicate with them about what my schedule’s going to be, when I’m going to be unavailable, and I take as many steps as I possibly can to assure them that the things going on in their cases are being handled.”
Long cases can change relationships with clients in those cases, though lawyers always must be careful to maintain a professional relationship, McInerney said.
“The kinds of cases that I become involved with are the kind that people measure time by,” he said. “They mark time in their lives by when they were dealing with this case — before this verdict or after this verdict. Oftentimes, what we’re talking about is people’s liberty, people’s freedom. You can’t help but try to get attuned to where they are personally. At the same time, it’s really important to remain their lawyer. I think that’s got to be a real bright line, and it’s a hard lesson to learn sometimes.”
In addition to giving credit to their co-workers, all four lawyers said their families have to step up during long trials, too. Coordinating daily family events can be a challenge.
“A few years ago, I had to cancel a Disney trip,” Bath said. “I don’t know how much money we lost; it was a cruise combo deal. I was a special prosecutor on that one; defense counsel was great, but his client just wouldn’t relent. I had the envious task of going home and saying, ‘We’re not going to Disney World.’”