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An angry litigator is a weakened litigator, just as an angry competitor is a weakened competitor. Not many people would get angry at the tiger making the attack. However, the main reason that people get angry at other people’s viciousness is feeling disappointed, at the...

Everyone gets angry, at least sometimes. Anger, rooted in fear, is weakening and even debilitating. However, it also is debilitating for us to beat up on ourselves for getting angry, and to beat up on ourselves for anything. We must continue on the positive and...

A dog does not betray anyone. Humans have the ability to betray, and too many people betray others. A dog does not form sinister plans, but too many humans do. A dog does not lie; too many humans do. Maybe that helps explain why so...

A colleague who has known many local judges since childhood and through the old boy/girl network recently told me that half the judges he knows in a particular county do the work out of a sense of public service, with numerous of the remainder dreading...

I grew up with a lot of anger. Of course, anger is rooted in fear. When I did not feel anger, I often felt a lot of tension. It took decades for me to come to sufficient grips with the bigotry that so many people directed...

My seven-year-old son from at least the time he walked has had a knack for being right when he believes a person is of good quality all around. Less often now than before, he would often walk right up to people and say hi. If they...

I love my work. I serve my clients and justice, I practice the art of persuasion, and I stand up against injustice. Plenty of my work, also, involves solitary moments preparing, thinking, researching, and writing. I wake for exercise and then work when most people are sleeping, and...

My close friend and teacher Trudy Morse — a great grandmother who learned many key life lessons before I ever was born — once wrote in thanks to those who supported her along the path of life. Local taijiquan teacher David Walls Kaufman, who very generously...

The three basics of effective trial advocacy, and persuasion beyond the law, are knowledge/intelligence/preparation, skill/experience, and passion/conviction. They all need to be synthesized into a harmonious whole. Passion, conviction, and persuasion are major hallmarks of the Trial Lawyers College, which I attended for four weeks in August...

Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. Mi.). Even though my own stagefright level by now is at a deep minimum, I still need to understand stagefright and ways to minimize it for my own ongoing journey, and for the sake of the witnesses...