THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM MY FIRST TRIAL AS A SECOND YEAR ASSOCIATE

My name is Sarai Glaze, I am a second year associate at Stephens & Stevens, PLLC, a boutique family & marital firm in West Palm Beach, Florida. I went to The Ohio State University for undergrad, Florida State University College of Law for law school, and I am a Legal Research Content Coordinator @ GGL. 

In August, I left a firm at personal injury firm in Tampa and moved to West Palm to join the team at Stephens & Stevens. As soon as I joined the firm I hit the ground running – drafting pleadings and contracts and also attending depositions and mediations. However, there was no world where I thought within my first few months at the firm (and my first year of practice) that I’d be at trial. 

In November, I second chaired my first trial which felt like a fever dream – I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that this is my real life as cases seldom go to trial. Nonetheless, while in law school I competed in several mock trial competitions and to my credit I did incredibly well! Literally, one of my favorite experiences in law school because I actually felt like I was actually learning to be a lawyer. Still, those experiences didn’t entirely prepare me for my first trial or the preparation that went into it either. 

Now, before you start reading I’d like to again remind you that my experience is incredibly limited as this was my first and only trial so far but I wanted to share how it went! 

So, here are my takeaways from that experience:

1. Setting Client Expectations

As you’d expect divorces often get ugly

As expected, divorce can be ugly – a divorce trial can be uglier. It’s emotional, scary, and ultimately aspects of your client’s life is in the hands of a judge – someone who doesn’t know them or their family. 

It is crucial to advise and set expectations for  your client as to what it to come at trial from opening statements, to direct and cross examinations, how courts tend to rule on the issues of their case, “good” facts and “bad” ones too, and the emotional toll of trial itself. 

2. Read the Room 

Candidly, when in trial mode and completely immersed in your case and your client’s perspective it’s incredibly easy to forget to read the room. Given the nature of the issues in family law cases our trials are bench trials – so your judge is the ultimate decision marker. So, it is so important to take a moment and consider:

1. Are your arguments are resonating with the judge? 

2. Have you been told to move on from a specific line of questioning? 

3. Is your judge making any facial expressions or has notable body language?

4. How is your client feeling? 

Obviously, this is all within reason…if you need to preserve your argument for an appeal and piss a judge off a bit do your thinnnng!

3. Rely on Your Experts 

This might sound silly but an expert on your case is an expert for a reason. Just as attorneys are consulted for our knowledge on the law if you’ve hired an expert in your case learn rely on that individual – ask questions for understanding, review their reports and analyses, and work together to present the evidence in the most cohesive way possible. 

Thanks for reading!