Raise your hand if you have never heard a lawyer joke. I thought so; no takers. Lawyers have been the leading butt of humor on the internet. Every cocktail party I have ever attended had its share of lawyer jokes or some character complaining how his lawyer screwed him. We are viewed as a necessary evil; but an evil nonetheless.
I grew up around the law. When I was 8 my Dad, then a full time Bridgeport cop, was schlepping his way to West Hartford every weeknight to UCONN Law School for evening classes. He did that for four tough years because to him there was no nobler profession. His sacrifice and drive is what inspired me. There is a nobility in what lawyers do. I am proud to say that. Without access to our courts we would still be settling disputes with sticks and clubs.
People commit crimes. Innocent people are wrongly accused. They get into car accidents. Their marriages fall apart. They make mistakes that put at risk all they own. They suffer injury because of another’s neglect. They are wrongfully terminated from their jobs. Their rights under some contract are ignored or violated by the other party. The list of reasons why we need lawyers is limitless.
Lawyers are problem solvers. People come to us in crisis and hope we have answers. There are no ready made solutions. There is no treatise we turn to to guide us in the tactical decisions we make and the recommendations we give to clients. We are taught to investigate and analyze facts.
Chief among the profession are the trial lawyers. Our art is in how those facts are presented. Like any artist we start with the rawest of materials: a jumble of information and emotions from our needy clients. We have to sift through all that to find what is relevant and then decide a course of action. These decisions are honed after years of experience using the instincts we have developed through our schooling and work life.
Once we have charted a course of action we need to put it into play. In civil cases we have to frame what the claim will be that is filed in court. In criminal cases we focus on what defenses may exist. Next we have to build facts; not theory and supposition. Facts that will allow 6 or 12 ordinary people on a jury to draw reasonable inferences that we hope will support what we are trying to prove.
We have to follow strict rules of evidence that exist to guarantee an orderly presentation of facts. The rules are complex and at times work against the lawyer, as judges will exclude offered evidence if it is not presented in conformity with all the rules. Trying a case is like a writing a play. There have to be moments that engage the listeners. There has to be some drama. There has to be a plot, or theme to the case. A lawyer doesn’t just throw those jumbled facts against the wall and hope something sticks. The facts must fit the theme; build on it so the conclusion becomes apparent to our “audience.”
The summation pulls these sometimes divergent facts together. Most courts permit only one hour unless the case is exceedingly complex. In that hour we get to speak directly to our jurors; to implore them to understand the play we have just directed. This is no place for the timid. Lawyers must exude confidence and inspire listeners. We seek to rally support among the jurors. In criminal cases sometimes we may reach only one or two. We pray they have the strength of character and will to stick to their positions in the deliberation room
Then we wait. Sometimes we wait for days. We watch the clock. We engage in chit chat with court personnel and often our opponents. We wonder who is the foreperson of the jury. Was that the juror who we thought appeared receptive to the evidence we presented or was closely following the summation? Inevitably there is a some note from the jury raising a question on the court’s instructions or seeking a read back of some testimony. Both sides parse out each word in that note. We watch for some sign as the jurors file out; some revelation that we are ahead on points. Did juror number 1 smile? Did I see a little nod from juror number 6? Why are they so sullen looking? Every body gesture, every face is studied. We are all praying for some sign that we may be winning. Of course there are no signs. Reading jurors during deliberation is like reading tea leaves.
The anxiety from jury deliberation is heightened in a criminal case. Civil cases are about money. Criminal cases are about a person’s liberty. When people ask me what it feels like to be a lawyer I tell them about something I studied in college as a philosophy student. It was an ancient story that existed in many cultures, called the Myth of the Year King. Each year the villagers would select a “king” who would be revered, wined and dined for that year. At the end of the cycle they would heap all of their problems on the Year King and then sacrifice him, hoping to appease their Gods and end whatever their sorrows were.
Lawyers are the modern day Year Kings. We absorb life’s problems. We try to solve them, but sometimes the burden destroys us as well. Think of that the next time someone asks, “Did you hear the one about two lawyers….”
Rich Meehan is a senior partner in the law firm of Meehan, Meehan & Gavin, LLP, Bridgeport, Conn. For more information on Rich or his firm go to www.meehanlaw.com or www.ctdentalmalpracticelawyer.com, or e-mail Rich at rtm@meehanlaw.com
