Why do some lawyers consistently win in the courtroom?

Successful litigators seem to share certain attributes - persistence, planning and presentation among them. Business First recently asked Columbus attorneys and one judge to tell us in their own words just what it takes to be a great litigator

Columbus lawyer Dale Perdue said great litigators have vivid imaginations.

"Every case involves a story about something," he said. "Usually it's a story about people, whether they are individuals or people working on behalf of companies. Someone has been damaged, hurt or killed. There's a story there."

If you can help a jury understand that story, they will move to a fair and just result, Perdue said.

"It's not just presenting documents or evidence as testimony - it's telling a story. And telling a story is making facts and events real for a jury. Today, people are even more conditioned to good stories and they expect good stories," he said. "Litigation and trials are all about good stories, and it requires imagination to find a series of facts for the story that people want to hear."

Perdue said thinking about a case a lot - he calls it cerebration - is also important to being a great litigator.

"With every case, you learn the art a little better. You have to think outside the box and think about every case in a nontraditional way. You have to do your informal investigation, finding out as much as humanly possible about the people and places and events of your case. Then you file suit and then there's a formal process called discovery. That enables you to get more information about the people, places and events of your case," he said.

The words litigants choose to use are equally important. Perdue said trial lawyers have to find a way to tell the story in a way that jurors will respond to and be moved without realizing it and without feeling pushed or manipulated. That way, they're more likely to move toward the "fair and just" conclusion that lawyers want for their clients, he said.

"After we put on a certain amount of evidence to satisfy basic legal requirements of our case, then the truly gifted lawyer has to take himself or herself out of the case and find the story that the jurors want to hear," he said. "Too many lawyers are so wrapped up in telling the story that they want to tell. Lawyers have to shed their egos."

In Depth: Litigation & Corporate Law
From the December 9, 2005 print edition
Darrel Richter
For Business First