For the defense, usually the answer “Yes” to the first question in a jury charge is an unhappy one. One of our clients received that answer last week. The “good news” is that there is a lot to talk about on appeal. The “bad news” is that our client will be the appellant.
Some years ago – over fifteen, if I am counting correctly – a judge consoled me after a particularly hard-fought loss. He told me, “If you haven’t lost a trial, you haven’t tried enough cases.” I totally agree. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer trials in today’s world. With high stakes cases and “precedent setting” serial litigation, the choice of whether to go to trial is harder than ever. We are blessed to have clients who support us and have confidence in our judgment, both before and after the verdicts we have received.
Our legal system benefits from cases going to the jury, and if necessary, matriculating through the appellate system. Juries can only rule on the issues the trial court gives them to decide. Sometimes, it takes an appellate court to help the law move forward, to guide trial judges and future juries while molding the law to adapt to changing attitudes, economic realities and systemic influences. We saw that freight train coming in our recent trial and fortunately our client had the fortitude to accept the situation and press forward.
The concept of stare decisis works. We learn from our history. Trials feed the appellate system, allowing legal concepts to be honed and massaged to address a changing world. Then, once decisions are handed down, the courts, the lawyers and ordinary citizens adjust their conduct accordingly.
Without the food stock of cases working their way through our appellate courts, our system would grow stale and inflexible. As crazy as it sounds, we need someone to lose in trial so that those losses can fuel the civil justice system and ultimately guide the way we conduct our lives and our businesses.
We are fortunate enough to have clients who get it – who make the hard decisions not out of fear of a bad result, but with a perspective that shows confidence in us and in our civil justice system, even as they face the risk associated with a negative result. We work hard to help our clients understand the risks as well as the rewards associated with each case. We pride ourselves in being dispute resolvers. Sometimes, that means assisting our clients by trying cases they would just as soon settle. The investment hopefully will pay off, if not in this case, then by creating the opportunity to advance the ball for the next case or the next contract down the line.
So, our win streak is temporarily halted. We start again with the next trial in line. And meanwhile, we look forward to delayed gratification on the case just concluded. Stay tuned. The silver lining lies ahead.
So, answer this question: How do you deal with disappointment?