Episodes
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Abraham Lincoln once said that if he had 6 hours to cut down a tree, he'd spend 4 hours sharpening the axe.
Trial lawyers are all too familiar with this concept. Not only must we keep our axe sharp for the work we do, there are several axes that we must have at our disposal. And each of them must be constantly sharpened.
In this episode, we will talk about three particular areas -- or axes -- that trial lawyers must keep sharp.
The axes are substantive law and medicine, tactics and strategy, and presentation skills.
We'll talk about each of these areas and ways we utilize to keep our axes sharpened.
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Trial lawyers love to talk about their wins. Their big verdicts, their huge settlements.
Do they start their careers out hitting homerun after homerun? Maybe some do.
But that is not our story. In this episode we talk about the first two trials we did as a team.
They were utter disasters.
We should have known from the time we set the cases for trial that we were in trouble. Though the cases were set more than half a year in advance, we made the mistake of setting the two trials on consecutive days.
Things got worse. Bob's trial ended up in a defense verdict. He had to then pack up his car to head to the next town to join Lauren at the hotel for her first civil jury trial that started the next day.
Things then just contined to get worse, as the trial judge granted a motion to strike the evidence at the end of the first day of trial. So, in other words, the case got dismissed.
That means in the course of about 28 hours, hundreds of hours of our work went up in smoke. We were both devastated.
But the story did not end there. Tune in to listen how things turned out.
At the end, trial lawyers can expect losses. Most of those losses will not have a happy ending.
The key is to persevere, to be resilient. If you have been called to be a trial lawyer, you must be faithful to that call.
And that means dealing with inevitable losses.
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In this episode, we dive into the topic of mediation. It is a pretty popular way to resolve cases, and when it goes well, it can go really well.
But that does not mean that mediation is appropriate for every case. To be sure, some cases should not be mediated for various reasons that we will discuss.
Some cases, on the other hand, are great for mediation. Maybe the client has unreasonable expectations or the defense is not properly evaluating the case. Maybe the case is one that can be resolved but it needs an experienced mediator to break the impasse.
If you do decide to mediate, make sure you are prepared. More importantly, make sure your client is prepared for the mediation. That means preparing them emotionally and psychologically for the way mediations are conducted.
As always, nothing in this podcast is legal advice. Every case is different, and it is important that each case be evaluated on its own merits.
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Truck crash cases are not like car crash cases. That's stated frequently in the legal industry, but it is not always known all of the ways that this is true.
Any attorney who represents injured parties in truck crash cases needs to be aware of the many nuances that exist with truck crash cases. There are not only obvious size differences between trucks and cars, but there are different operating characteristics with trucks and cars, different damages that result from crashes, and completely different bodies of law that apply to tractor trailers and other commercial vehicles.
In this episode, we discuss three common mistakes attorneys make when settling truck crash cases. These problems will most often arise when plaintiffs' attorneys are not aware of the many nuances and unique characteristics of the law that applies to interstate trucking.
This podcast and this episode are for informational purposes only. Nothing contained herein is legal advice or creates an attorney-client relationship.
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Lauren was recently approached by a friend's daughter who is contemplating going to law school. It got her thinking: why did we go to law school? What should people know if they are thinking about attending law school? What do we think about any of our five kids attending law school?
In this episode we talk about what drew us to law school. Maybe it was "Covid" in high school. Perhaps it was the Golden Arches. Tune in to know what these bizarre references mean!
For us, law school was a great choice. While it isn't for everyone, it also is not for a cookie cutter group of people who have the exact same skill set and interests. In fact, it is just the opposite: law school attracts people from all different backgrounds and walks of life.
This is worth a listen if you are contemplating law school or someone close to you is considering that path.
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In this episode of the podcast, Bob and Lauren dig into a topic that is prevalent in litigation and trial but not often discussed. And that is psychological warfare.
If you are a litigator, you know what it is. You start out in your case with all the enthusiasm in the world. You think the opposition will see the strength and merits of your case and then instantly cave and give you everything you want.
Not only does the opposition not cave, but they start fighting. They act is if your case has little merit, if any at all. They pound on all of the weaknesses.
This can dampen or even kill your enthusiasm for your case if you let it. And that's precisely the goal of these types of psychological tactics.
Bob and Lauren explain what psychological warfare in litigation and trial is. They mention some of the tactics they've seen and how it can be used.
They then share some strategies they have used to combat this. These strategies will help, and they will allow you to keep your enthusiasm and get a great result for your client.
Nothing contained in this episode is legal advice and this podcast is for informational purposes only.
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We are Bob and Lauren Byrne, civil trial attorneys in Virginia who represent clients in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases. We try many of these cases to juries together.
But we are also married with five kids at home. So there is never a dull moment in our house!
This episode of the podcast is our introduction: we introduce ourselves and then talk about what we are going to talk about.
Lots of people seem doubtful that they could work with their spouse, much less try a case with them. We never set out to do this -- it just kind of happened and it has worked.
The million dollar question we have is whether we could do the Amazing Race together. Doubtful. Very doubtful.
It isn't particularly easy with our five kids, especially when they are texting us during trial asking questions about where their stuff is. But we roll with it and make it work.
