Trial Magazine

At the AAJ Leaders Forum^® Retreat earlier this year, Immediate Past President Sean Domnick asked each attendee to share the best advice they’d ever received. One piece of advice that leapt to my mind was, “Never let them see you sweat.”

Let’s face it: What we do is hard—really hard. We routinely go up against some of the most well-funded defendants in the world. Our opponents are represented by some of the best lawyers in the country. They have more staff at their disposal and access to more resources.

No matter how unbalanced the playing field may be, we can never succumb to the overwhelming forces exerted by the trucking industry, the pharmaceutical industry, insurance companies, and the other opponents we face every day. We have to be prepared, we have to be clever, we have to be lean, and we have to be nimble. And we cannot ever let them sense weakness.

Just like every one of us, AAJ punches above its weight. We spend a fraction of what the Chamber of Commerce spends on lobbying, but as CEO Linda Lipsen says, we’ve got truth on our side. Our talented team of advocates fights off hundreds of bad bills every year and works tirelessly to get good bills passed. And in courts across the country, AAJ’s robust amicus curiae program continues to have a significant impact on civil justice issues that are important to our clients and to our practices (justice.org/amicusbriefs).

Corporations and their lawyers do their best to defeat us—they try to outspend us, outgun us, and outwork us. But they will never outsmart us. That’s because AAJ members get the most exceptional training in the country. We come together to learn from brilliant trial lawyers on timely topics. We collaborate with one another, strategizing on difficult issues that stand in the way of getting justice for our clients.

AAJ’s educational offerings are wide-ranging in both content and accessibility: from free webinars to in-depth trial colleges (justice.org/education). Whatever your budget and whatever your level of experience, AAJ’s National College of Advocacy—the education arm of AAJ—will help you be a better advocate.

But perhaps most important, whenever we have been bruised in the fight, there is no better remedy than time spent with other trial lawyers. AAJ’s community of trial lawyers inspires us, entertains us, and encourages us to keep going.

These are the reasons I became involved in AAJ straight out of law school 25 years ago, and they are the reasons that I remain so committed to our mission as I begin my year as president. I’ve seen how our collective power moves mountains in Congress. I’ve seen young lawyers grow into brilliant practitioners, and I’ve seen friendships thrive across great distances.

As the new AAJ president, here are my first calls to action. This being an election year, we must draw on all our resources to elect (and re-elect) pro-civil justice candidates. It’s going to take all of us working together to make that happen. Talk to everyone you know about the importance of the Seventh Amendment. Support pro-civil justice candidates financially if you are able.

Spend your Election Day safeguarding the right to vote by taking part in AAJ’s Voter Protection Action Committee (VPAC). Email VPAC@justice.org for information about how you can participate. And, of course, use your voice and vote! As my good friend and AAJ Past President Burton LeBlanc says, “If you’re not representing your client in the legislature, then you are not fully representing your client.”

So, my trial lawyer friends, never quit fighting for what’s right. Never give up. And remember: Never let them see you sweat.

Lori E. Andrus is a partner at Andrus Anderson in San Francisco and can be reached at lori.andrus@justice.org.