When I first started practicing law, a great piece of advice I received early on was that, when filing pleadings and making arguments, you better be darn sure you are right and you better have the guts to follow through on your court filing. In other words, you have to bring it strong or don’t bring it at all. Or, as Shaq once said: “Don’t fake the funk on a nasty dunk.”
Filing weak pleadings results in weak cases. Lawyers have to know the law and have the confidence to enforce it in favor of their clients. Like it or not, it’s an adversarial system and you are your clients’ advocate. You better believe that the other side is going to bring it (or, at least you should expect them to.)
I suspect the adversarial nature of the legal system is why a lot of lawyers either leave the practice and/or suffer extreme stress and job fatigue. Starting a law firm and practicing law every day is not easy. It can be incredibly rewarding and often very fun, but it is not easy.
In my practice, I try to take good solid advice where I can find it. My example of this concept is the game of baseball. The baseball season is a long, drawn-out, competitive affair. There are many ups and downs. I find this to be a lot like a lawsuit – a long, sometimes painful struggle to win. So, a lot of managers and players in baseball talk about the mental makeup it takes to be an every-day ball player. You have to keep an even temper and always remember to be positive and keep your goals in mind. There are so many highs and lows that controlling your emotions is very important. If you get too high after a win you tend to miss the big picture. The same goes for a loss.
I try to be like a veteran baseball player – take the highs and lows as they come and keep a steady keel. Does it always work? No. Sometimes I want to tear my hair out. Sometimes I gloat over a nasty dunk. But, trust me, you will be a much happier person and a lawyer if you remember to keep a steady focus on the task at hand.
But, back to filing strong pleadings. To me, there is nothing worse than having to look back on a case where I failed to bring it. I have had several of them. I knew I needed to come strong, but for whatever reason, I didn’t. Afterward, I felt like I didn’t give it my best shot for the client. Maybe I was tired that day. Maybe I didn’t feel like I had the time. Those excuses stink and I can tell you that you will feel worse later if you realize you didn’t give your full effort. Your clients will also realize that you weren’t fighting for them like you should have. This results in dissatisfied clients and loss of income to your law firm. Both are bad things – especially when trying to build a law practice.