Court
The battle is about the battle, not about personalities
In court and beyond, we are offered many opportunities to react angrily to others' seeming trespasses and lack of consideration. Some police and prosecutors try to talk uncalled-for trash about my clients. Other cars cut us off on the road. Others at restaurants and elsewhere...
When the horse/judge throws you off the saddle, you understand the horse/judge better
Some judges seem to take delight in trying to dispirit lawyers. Others do unintentional things that dispirit lawyers. The right lawyer is hard to dispirit. Being dispirited interferes with powerful battle.
Criminal defense clients are not to be kept at arms’ length
If I keep distant from a client, I do not fully know my client. If I do not fully know my client, I cannot fully and persuasively convey to myself, the jury, the judge and the prosecutor who my client really is.
Fairfax County’s former chief prosecutor said Virginia prosecutes “on the cheap”
Then-recently retired chief Fairfax prosecutor Robert Horan said that "Virginia has this longstanding desire to do criminal prosecution on the cheap.
Obtaining victory by vibrating away the dung
If we let it happen, we are constantly bombarded with gunk, garbage and negative energy. With me, it can start with something as small as facing a choice between cursing or blessing the driver in front of me who sticks his stinky burning cigarette outside...
The Power of Diffusing Rather Than Escalating a Tense Situation
We repeatedly face tense crossroads situations where we know that diffusing the situation is the right choice, but sometimes give into our temptations to escalate the tension. Diffusing the situation, or at least softening our own tension for starters, clearly is the most persuasive way...