Trial Magazine
Question of the Month
What's the most valuable piece of professional advice that you have received?
February 2020“It’s not about you, so don’t make it about you! Tell your client’s story!”
Caroleann S. Gallagher, Dwyer & Coogan, Chicago, IL
“Make sure that clients contacting your office receive a call back from you, the attorney, within at most 24 hours. They rightly wonder what is going on if there has been no personal contact and need reassurance that they have not been forgotten and that their cases matter.”
Gerald W. Livingston, The Livingston Law Firm, Dallas, TX
“When I first began to litigate, my boss told me to prepare a time line with supporting documentation for every case. It’s now something we always ask our attorneys to do—but when I was in law school, this strategy was not taught.”
Barbara Nevin, Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, Brooklyn Center, MN
“My own reactions after watching a video recording of a presentation I made. This allowed me to see and hear myself as jurors might. There is a difference between reading, broadcasting, telling, and showing—only the last one works.”
Thomas H. Blaske, Blaske & Blaske, Ann Arbor, MI
“If you can’t explain your medical negligence case to the average ninth grader in 10 minutes, you haven’t sufficiently condensed your case or you’ve taken the wrong one.”
Scott Webre, Webre & Associates, Lafayette, LA
“Only celebrate a win for 24 hours. After that, move on to the next case.”
J. Kyle Beale, McDonald Worley, Houston, TX
“‘Don’t let perfection get in the way of getting things done—sometimes good enough is all you need.’ That advice has come in very handy throughout the years.”
Crystal Cook Leftridge, Stueve Siegel Hanson, Kansas City, MO
