Every
trial
lawyer
eventually
gets
that
case.
The
one
with
no
clean
story.
No
righteous
client.
No
obvious
villain
on
the
other
side.
No
theme
that
fits
neatly
on
a
PowerPoint
slide
or
a
jury
consultant’s
whiteboard.
The
facts
are
messy.
The
law
is
worse.
Your
client
did
some
things
right
and
some
things
that
make
you
wince.
The
jury
is
going
to
dislike
someone,
and
there’s
a
non-zero
chance
it
could
be
your
client.
These
are
the
cases
where
you
don’t
get
to
charge
up
the
hill
waving
a
flag.
These
are
the
cases
where
you
don’t
win
by
brute
force,
volume,
or
theatrics.
You
win
these
cases
by
threading
the
needle.
And
threading
the
needle
is
a
very
different
skill
set
from
winning
the
obvious
case.
The
First
Mistake:
Pretending
This
Is
a
“Normal”
Case
Most
lawyers
lose
tough
cases
long
before
voir
dire
because
they
treat
them
as
they
would
any
other
case.
They
over-argue.
They
over-explain.
They
over-defend.
They
tell
the
jury,
“My
client
did
nothing
wrong,”
when
the
jury
already
knows
that’s
not
true.
In
needle-threading
cases,
absolutism
kills
you.
Jurors
are
remarkably
tolerant
of
imperfection.
They
are
deeply
suspicious
of
denial.
If
your
entire
theory
depends
on
jurors
believing
your
client
is
blameless,
you
are
already
in
trouble.
Your
job
is
not
to
prove
perfection.
Your
job
is
to
define
where
responsibility
ends.
That’s
the
needle.
Pick
the
Hill
You’re
Willing
to
Die
On
—
And
Abandon
the
Rest
I
once
knew
a
seasoned
defense
trial
lawyer
who
described
himself
as
a
mercenary
dropped
into
the
jungle.
He
wasn’t
there
to
debate
philosophy
or
explain
corporate
culture.
He
was
there
to
seize
one
hill,
blow
up
the
target,
and
get
out.
That
mentality
matters
most
in
tough
cases.
You
cannot
defend
everything.
You
cannot
fix
every
bad
document.
You
cannot
rehabilitate
every
witness.
So
stop
trying.
Identify
the
one
issue
that
actually
matters
to
the
verdict
—
not
the
10
issues
that
make
you
uncomfortable.
Then
ruthlessly
narrow
your
case
around
that
issue.
Ask
yourself:
-
If
the
jury
believes
only
one
thing
we
say,
what
does
it
have
to
be? -
If
we
lose
every
side
skirmish
but
win
this
one
point,
do
we
still
win
the
case?
Everything
else
becomes
background
noise.
Threading
the
needle
is
about
restraint.
And
restraint
is
hard
for
lawyers
because
we
are
trained
to
respond
to
everything.
But
juries
don’t
reward
completeness.
They
reward
clarity.
Stop
Trying
to
Win
the
Case
in
Depositions
In
tough
cases,
depositions
are
not
about
dominance
or
“gotcha”
moments.
They
are
about
information,
tone,
and
credibility.
I
once
defended
a
case
where
the
plaintiff
claimed
a
serious
cognitive
injury.
Instead
of
attacking,
I
let
her
talk
—
at
length.
Calmly.
Comfortably.
On
video.
At
trial,
we
played
that
deposition.
In
her
case-in-chief,
she
suddenly
couldn’t
remember
basic
facts.
The
jury
noticed.
Threading
the
needle
often
means
doing
less
in
discovery,
not
more.
Let
the
record
develop
naturally.
Let
inconsistencies
reveal
themselves
without
your
fingerprints
all
over
them.
Aggression
in
depositions
feels
good.
It
rarely
helps
in
close
cases.
Give
the
Other
Side
a
Way
to
Save
Face
In
tough
cases,
opposing
counsel
is
often
under
pressure
too.
They
may
know
the
case
has
problems.
They
may
also
know
that
backing
down
looks
like
weakness
—
to
their
client,
their
firm,
or
themselves.
If
you
corner
them,
they
flip
the
board.
I
learned
this
lesson
over
coffee
at
a
Cuban
cafeteria
near
the
courthouse.
A
plaintiff
lawyer
friend
summed
it
up
perfectly:
If
he
knows
he’s
going
to
lose,
give
him
a
way
to
save
face.
That
advice
applies
equally
to
mediation,
discovery
disputes,
and
trial.
You
don’t
need
to
humiliate
the
other
side.
You
need
to
finish
the
game
according
to
the
rules.
Threading
the
needle
means
lowering
the
temperature,
not
raising
it.
The
calmer
lawyer
usually
wins
the
close
case.
Jury
Selection
Is
Where
You
Actually
Win
These
Cases
In
needle-threading
cases,
voir
dire
matters
more
than
openings.
You
are
not
looking
for
jurors
who
will
like
your
client.
You
are
looking
for
jurors
who
will
draw
lines.
You
need
jurors
who
believe:
-
Responsibility
has
limits. -
Bad
outcomes
don’t
always
mean
wrongdoing. -
You
can
acknowledge
mistakes
without
awarding
damages.
If
a
juror
believes
every
injury
requires
compensation,
thank
them
for
their
honesty
and
move
on.
You
are
not
converting
anyone.
You
are
identifying
landmines.
Jury
selection
is
not
about
charm.
It
is
about
risk
management.
Tell
the
Jury
the
Truth
—
But
Only
the
Parts
That
Matter
This
is
where
most
lawyers
panic.
They
hear
“tell
the
truth”
and
think
it
means
confessing
every
flaw
in
their
case.
That’s
not
honesty.
That’s
abdication.
Threading
the
needle
means
acknowledging
the
bad
fact
once,
cleanly,
and
without
drama
—
then
reframing
it
in
its
proper
context.
“Yes,
this
happened.”
“No,
that
does
not
mean
what
they
want
it
to
mean.”
Then
move
on.
The
jury
does
not
need
you
to
apologize.
They
need
you
to
orient
them.
When
you
linger
on
the
bad
facts,
you
elevate
them.
When
you
normalize
them,
you
deflate
them.
Openings
Should
Be
Shorter
Than
You’re
Comfortable
With
In
tough
cases,
long
openings
are
a
mistake.
The
more
you
talk,
the
more
you
explain.
The
more
you
explain,
the
more
you
sound
defensive.
Your
opening
should
do
three
things:
-
Define
the
narrow
issue
that
matters. -
Acknowledge
the
imperfection
without
surrender. -
Tell
the
jury
what
not
to
decide.
“This
case
is
not
about
whether
something
unfortunate
happened.
It’s
about
whether
my
client
is
legally
responsible
for
it.”
That
sentence
alone
threads
more
needles
than
most
hour-long
openings.
Cross-Examination
Is
About
Control,
Not
Destruction
In
needle-threading
cases,
you
don’t
need
to
destroy
witnesses.
You
need
to
guide
them.
Over-aggressive
cross
creates
sympathy.
An
under-controlled
cross
creates
confusion.
The
sweet
spot
is
calm
inevitability
—
where
the
witness
helps
you
without
realizing
it.
If
you’re
trying
to
“win”
every
exchange,
you’re
missing
the
point.
You’re
not
scoring
points.
You’re
building
permission.
Closing
is
when
you
ask
for
the
line.
By
the
time
you
close,
the
jury
already
knows
the
case
is
imperfect.
They’re
waiting
to
see
if
you
respect
them
enough
to
say
it
out
loud.
This
is
where
you
draw
the
line
clearly
and
unapologetically.
“You
may
not
like
everything
you
heard.
That’s
okay.
The
law
doesn’t
ask
you
to
approve
of
everything.
It
asks
you
to
decide
one
thing
—
and
only
one
thing.”
Threading
the
needle
means
giving
jurors
a
verdict
they
can
live
with.
Not
a
heroic
verdict.
Not
a
dramatic
verdict.
A
rational
verdict.
The
Hard
Truth
About
These
Cases
Some
cases
can’t
be
won
cleanly.
Some
can
only
be
managed
to
a
win.
These
cases
reward
patience,
humility,
preparation,
and
judgment.
They
punish
the
ego.
Young
lawyers
often
think
great
trial
lawyers
are
great
because
they’re
aggressive,
charismatic,
or
fearless.
In
my
experience,
the
best
trial
lawyers
in
the
toughest
cases
are
the
ones
who
know
when
not
to
swing.
Threading
the
needle
is
not
flashy.
But
it
wins.
And
if
you
can
win
those
cases,
the
easy
ones
take
care
of
themselves.
Frank
Ramos
is
a
partner
at
Goldberg
Segalla
in
Miami,
where
he
practices
commercial
litigation,
products,
and
catastrophic
personal
injury. You
can
follow
him
on LinkedIn,
where
he
has
about
80,000
followers.