0:01

So let's discuss

0:02

what happens when you're actually in the

0:04

courtroom moving forward.

0:06

And this can be at a pretrial hearing or actually at trial.

0:11

And from a plaintiff's perspective, what, um,

0:16

I think that is most helpful to me is if you are, um,

0:21

hostile, arrogant, um, you know, you have sort

0:26

of have an air of contempt about the whole process.

0:29

And why am I having to sit through

0:31

that, that makes me happy.

0:33

Juries don't like that.

0:35

The, the plaintiff,

0:37

or excuse me, the defendants that are, uh, most troublesome

0:41

to me are the ones that come in, they're polite,

0:45

they're well dressed, they're respectful, they sit quietly,

0:49

they make eye contact with the jury.

0:52

Um, it's clear they're engaged in the process.

0:54

They're helping their lawyer.

0:57

Um, they're respectful of me

0:59

or the plaintiff's counsel as well as the plaintiff.

1:02

Um, they're not making faces,

1:05

they're not, you know, sneering.

1:08

Um, and believe me, all of those things do happen.

1:11

And sometimes you need to understand that lawyers will try

1:15

to go you into doing those things,

1:18

and this is the time to let it roll off your back,

1:21

let it go, and just sit there and be polite and respectful.

1:25

Um, and the attitudes that I think can creep into these,

1:30

uh, courtroom hearings, whether it's pretrial

1:33

or during trial, is this attitude of, you know,

1:37

why do I have to be here?

1:38

The, these rules don't apply to me. I did everything right.

1:42

Why are you questioning me?

1:44

Um, the other attitude that I see that is helpful to me

1:49

representing my client is this attitude of arrogance.

1:53

Or, you know, I know more than you,

1:56

I've been to medical school.

1:58

You've not been to medical school.

1:59

Who are you to question me about what happened here?

2:02

Um, you never want to assume that everyone in

2:07

that courtroom isn't well educated about the medical

2:09

topics at hand.

2:11

So that's not a good attitude to have.

2:14

Um, if you are not, uh, if you show hesitancy

2:18

or you don't wanna answer the questions,

2:21

that's also not a good look for you.

2:23

So you wanna sit quietly, do everything you can to answer

2:28

what's being asked of you, whether it's

2:30

by plaintiff's attorney or defense attorney, your,

2:33

your counsel, and understand that if there's a problem

2:37

with a question, your attorney is going to be objecting.

2:42

They're gonna jump up and say, objection.

2:44

Uh, you know, let's have a, let's have a discussion

2:48

with the judge on whether or not you have to answer.

2:50

And that's when you wanna sit back

2:52

and listen to what's happening.

2:54

And you can also take clues from that.

2:57

But, you know, to have this attitude that, oh, you know,

3:00

why do I have to answer to you is not a good one.

3:03

Um, the other thing, uh, is showing, you know, disrespect,

3:08

contempt, uh, for the process

3:10

or for anyone in the courtroom.

3:13

Judge, you know, jury, uh, opposing counsel, plaintiff,

3:18

I get that a lot, um, is not a, again,

3:21

is not a good look that you wanna have.

3:23

And the other thing is, um, don't underestimate

3:28

the opposing counsel, the one that's going

3:30

to be cross-examining you in the courtroom

3:33

about what happened.

3:34

Um, having an attitude of, of disrespect

3:39

or contempt is not a good look.

3:41

And juries do not like that.

3:43

And juries are paying attention.

3:46

They catch on pretty quickly.

3:48

And you can tell that, um, uh, they're watching you.

3:52

They'll pass notes to the judge

3:53

and say, can we have a clarification?

3:56

So you wanna be, uh, aware that they're very engaged

4:00

and your presence

4:02

and how you address everyone else in the courtroom is an

4:05

important piece of this.

4:07

So here's a little clip that kind of exemplifies

4:11

what we've been talking about, which is this attitude

4:15

of sort of arrogance.

4:16

I don't need to answer to you. I know what the rules are.

4:20

Um, and anyway, you, you're not gonna pin me down on

4:24

what happened because they're, they're more like guidelines

4:27

and it's something that we kind of use

4:29

and joke about, um, in these cases.

4:33

Um, so take a look.

4:35

You have to take me to shore according

4:37

to the code of the order of the

4:38

Reference.

4:39

Your return to shore was not part

4:41

of our negotiations nor our agreement.

4:42

So I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a pirate

4:45

for the Pirate's code to apply and you're not.

4:47

And thirdly, the code is more

4:50

what you call guidelines, the rules.

4:53

Welcome aboard the Black Pearl.