Legal Mosaic Essays on Legal Delivery

<strong>Legal</strong> <strong>Mosaic</strong>: <strong>Essays</strong> on <strong>Legal</strong> Delivery
ways. The first involved going up to a stranger and saying that I would
pay them $20 if they would take 5 minutes to listen to a story and relate
its message back to me. I would present the case for the first 3 minutes;
the next 2 minutes were spent listening to the stranger provide a take on
what I had told them. If they understood the story, I was ready for trial.
Almost. That brings up the second part of the final preparation. I would
open each trial with the same line, substituting one word at its end. I
would say: “This is a case about (one word; fill in the blank). I recited
this sentence to begin opening and closing statements. In those instances
when I was permitted to poll the jury, they almost unanimously said
they had focused on that one word (greed, opportunity, competition,
etc.) to frame the case. It’s not that the cases were simple—most of
them were highly complex—but I knew that if I drilled them down to
the essence for the trier of fact and framed things in my self-selected
simple term, I had a big advantage. To analogize to the IBM contract
modification, it was easier to “get to yes” by simplifying things and
sticking to what was relevant and material.
Keeping Things Simple
Is it hubris that prevents most lawyers from simplifying their work?
Or is it perpetuation of the myth that what they do is bespoke? Perhaps,
as noted previously, economic incentives are the antagonist of
simplicity. That would change were fixed-price billing and transparent
statements of work (who, what, when, and how much for handling the
case?) the new standard for legal engagement. Lawyers would be well
served to simplify things for themselves and for their clients. One way
to achieve that is to ask the client at the inception of each engagement:
“What is your objective?” Not only is this a key driver of case strategy,
but also—and more fundamentally—it eliminates misconceptions and
aligns expectations. Imagine hiring a contractor to build an addition to
your home and have work commenced without any prior discussion of
style, finishes, square footage, use, workers, and price? That remains
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