Lost my jury trial Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey guys

Been practicing Personal injury for 4 years now and been a licensed lawyer for 5. Am a solo practitioner. Lost my first jury trial. Personal injury case. Tried it in a district court. He said she said situation. Unanimous 12 juror verdict. First jury trial ever in my life as an attorney. Any tips? How many of y’all have lost your first trial.

Really had no mentor and the case was a he said she said, no police report, kind of bad facts, and low meds…so it just went on credibility.

[Anonymous User]

I’d bet most PDs lose their first trial. What kind of tips are you looking for? It sounds like it wasn’t a very good case, and a really important thing to remember is that you’re a lawyer, not a magician - I’m sure you could lose a great case by screwing up but you could also do everything perfectly and lose if the case just isn’t very good.

[Anonymous User]

Op here

Well I tried so hard to win but couldn’t lol. The judge did not admit a lot of my evidence even though I had the proper foundation laid out. It’s just it was embarrassing lol. I was not confident at all and was told to speak up more and I’m sure that played a part in the jury verdict.

I’m looking for similar experiences I guess and stories, so I can relate to others.

[Lacepiece23]

Im 8 years out. I’ve tried three cases. I’m 2/3. I won’t my first, lost my second, and am now on my third.

Best advice is just to keep going. You will lose tough cases. You will win tough cases. You will lose great cases. You will win great cases.

But you’re never going to b any good as a plaintiffs lawyer if you don’t try cases. It’s just a numbers game.

[Anonymous User]

Op here

Well I tried so hard to win but couldn’t lol. The judge did not admit a lot of my evidence even though I had the proper foundation laid out. It’s just it was embarrassing lol. I was not confident at all and was told to speak up more and I’m sure that played a part in the jury verdict.

I’m looking for similar experiences I guess and stories, so I can relate to others.

Nobody gets it right the first time, and it sounds like you really did your best. Don' t be too hard on yourself.

FWIW I'm socially awkward with awful public speaking anxiety (borderline on the spectrum), and thought I'd never become a lawyer. When I finally decided to go to law school for the money, I told myself I was gonna avoid lit at all costs. So when I had to do my first oral argument for legal practice, for days prior I was basically half dead with fear just thinking about it. I put in a shit ton of time to prepare because I was so nervous, and I was literally sick to my stomach for hours before I had to go in front of the class. And when I finally did it, I flubbed massively, completely forgetting my train of thought and blanking on all the things that I planned to say from my pages and pages of notes.

But weirdly enough, after completely embarrassing myself in front of my fellow law school gunners, the only thing I felt was relief. It helped that my opponent wasn't great either, but more important was that looking back, I realized that I fucked up because I took it way too seriously and the more seriously I took it, the more nervous I was and the worse I flubbed. And that objectively terrible experience strangely made me more confident in front of other people and made me reconsider litigation, especially after I realized I hated transactional. I tried out moot court and mock trials, ended up not doing too terribly, and now I'm a litigator - granted in biglaw where you don't go to trial often - but I handle myself fine at depos and engaging with other counsel and stuff like that.

Anyway, I know I'm rambling but I guess the point is, even if your first trial didn't go your way you may still have gotten something really valuable out of the experience, and you can apply that experience to become better at trial. This idea seems pretty obvious on the surface, but sometimes ideas only click when they've become lived experiences.

[GavinMcG]

Happens. Learn from it and keep going. This guy ended up doing okay—you might appreciate his early-career experience.

[Anonymous User]

Again OP here.

Thanks yeah it was so damn embarrassing . Jury came back in 10 mins so I knew it was not a good sign.

I will keep trying cases I guess even though I suck shit. What else can I do?

[Lacepiece23]

Again OP here.

Thanks yeah it was so damn embarrassing . Jury came back in 10 mins so I knew it was not a good sign.

I will keep trying cases I guess even though I suck shit. What else can I do?

I’m thinking this isn’t a troll. But I’d recommend trial lawyers university or Gerry Spence’s course.

Also, if this is serious, don’t beat yourself up. It’s not embarrassing. I had a jury come back very quickly in one of my cases. You cannot change bad facts.

[nixy]

Again OP here.

Thanks yeah it was so damn embarrassing . Jury came back in 10 mins so I knew it was not a good sign.

I will keep trying cases I guess even though I suck shit. What else can I do?

You’re right that the best way to learn how to do trials is to do trials. But there are resources to learn to do better. Find a mentor, attend CLEs, even just read and learn Mauet and Winklereid (not sure the spelling is right on that).

But if you think losing trials is embarrassing, especially when it sounds like your case wasn’t very good, you might need to look for another line of work. There’s a loser in every trial, sometimes it’s going to be you. Best way to avoid it is to be super selective about what you take to trial, not become some kind of trial genius who always wins (that’s not a thing).

(Though I agree this sounds trolly.)

[crazywafflez]

Just keep trying. I won my first trial- I was clearly the worse attorney- everyone knew. But the facts were the facts, so I won. You shouldn't really sweat it. I agree with the others that practice is important, as is reading, but you'll never get it perfect.
I used to keep track of my trial/hearing victories, I have no idea what my stats are anymore but I'm sure I'm near 50/50 on most things, hah. Do your best, only take good cases to trial if you can help it, and just know it's the practice of law, so there are bound to be some hiccups along the way.

[Anonymous User]

Op.

Yes agreed fuck it.

Yes, the jury came back in 10 mins.

Man what a trip. It’s a numbers game I guess, as someone pointed out earlier.

My brain keeps obsessing over the damn fact, it’s how I appeared. I appeared like a fuck tard. It’s my problem to deal with: next time I won’t appear like a fuck tard.

Had I been able to get certain things admitted it would’ve been easier. Me being a newbie I had no fucking idea what I was doing…

[Antetrust]

Op.

Yes agreed fuck it.

Yes, the jury came back in 10 mins.

Man what a trip. It’s a numbers game I guess, as someone pointed out earlier.

My brain keeps obsessing over the damn fact, it’s how I appeared. I appeared like a fuck tard. It’s my problem to deal with: next time I won’t appear like a fuck tard.

Had I been able to get certain things admitted it would’ve been easier. Me being a newbie I had no fucking idea what I was doing…

Hi there, OP. Do you mind sharing some details about the case and the issues you ran into or mistakes you made for the benefit of others?

[Anonymous User]

Op.

Yes agreed fuck it.

Yes, the jury came back in 10 mins.

Man what a trip. It’s a numbers game I guess, as someone pointed out earlier.

My brain keeps obsessing over the damn fact, it’s how I appeared. I appeared like a fuck tard. It’s my problem to deal with: next time I won’t appear like a fuck tard.

Had I been able to get certain things admitted it would’ve been easier. Me being a newbie I had no fucking idea what I was doing…

I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but I do want to point out that you kind of have an ethical obligation to know what you’re doing when you’re representing someone else’s interests. I realize this is an Internet forum not, like, actual court, and you may just mean “I felt out of my element” or the like, but saying “I had no fucking idea what I was doing” sounds like you were unprepared or incompetent. I don’t mean you have to be perfect, everyone makes mistakes at times, but the way you’re describing yourself sounds beyond that. So maybe think about what you didn’t actually know and don’t go to trial if you truly don’t know how to do it.

I mean it sounds like you lost because you had a bad case, but if you did actually lose because you didn’t know what you were doing - if it was a case that you should or could have won - that’s kind of a problem.

If nothing else, go sit and watch some trials to learn a lot of the kind of logistics of what happens in the courtroom during trial. That will help you not feel like you look like an idiot.

[Lacepiece23]

Op.

Yes agreed fuck it.

Yes, the jury came back in 10 mins.

Man what a trip. It’s a numbers game I guess, as someone pointed out earlier.

My brain keeps obsessing over the damn fact, it’s how I appeared. I appeared like a fuck tard. It’s my problem to deal with: next time I won’t appear like a fuck tard.

Had I been able to get certain things admitted it would’ve been easier. Me being a newbie I had no fucking idea what I was doing…

I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but I do want to point out that you kind of have an ethical obligation to know what you’re doing when you’re representing someone else’s interests. I realize this is an Internet forum not, like, actual court, and you may just mean “I felt out of my element” or the like, but saying “I had no fucking idea what I was doing” sounds like you were unprepared or incompetent. I don’t mean you have to be perfect, everyone makes mistakes at times, but the way you’re describing yourself sounds beyond that. So maybe think about what you didn’t actually know and don’t go to trial if you truly don’t know how to do it.

I mean it sounds like you lost because you had a bad case, but if you did actually lose because you didn’t know what you were doing - if it was a case that you should or could have won - that’s kind of a problem.

If nothing else, go sit and watch some trials to learn a lot of the kind of logistics of what happens in the courtroom during trial. That will help you not feel like you look like an idiot.

This is not helpful. Everyone has their first trial and even if you did a ton of trial ad and mock trial, there are a shit ton of things you won’t know.

[Anonymous User]

Op.

Yes agreed fuck it.

Yes, the jury came back in 10 mins.

Man what a trip. It’s a numbers game I guess, as someone pointed out earlier.

My brain keeps obsessing over the damn fact, it’s how I appeared. I appeared like a fuck tard. It’s my problem to deal with: next time I won’t appear like a fuck tard.

Had I been able to get certain things admitted it would’ve been easier. Me being a newbie I had no fucking idea what I was doing…

I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but I do want to point out that you kind of have an ethical obligation to know what you’re doing when you’re representing someone else’s interests. I realize this is an Internet forum not, like, actual court, and you may just mean “I felt out of my element” or the like, but saying “I had no fucking idea what I was doing” sounds like you were unprepared or incompetent. I don’t mean you have to be perfect, everyone makes mistakes at times, but the way you’re describing yourself sounds beyond that. So maybe think about what you didn’t actually know and don’t go to trial if you truly don’t know how to do it.

I mean it sounds like you lost because you had a bad case, but if you did actually lose because you didn’t know what you were doing - if it was a case that you should or could have won - that’s kind of a problem.

If nothing else, go sit and watch some trials to learn a lot of the kind of logistics of what happens in the courtroom during trial. That will help you not feel like you look like an idiot.

This is not helpful. Everyone has their first trial and even if you did a ton of trial ad and mock trial, there are a shit ton of things you won’t know.

Of course there are. But you have some obligation to have *some* idea what you’re doing, and to work/train with attorneys who do know what they’re doing if you don’t. I’d bet most people in this profession don’t tackle their first trial solo (not knocking the OP for doing that, just saying that not knowing what you’re doing at trial is different if you’re part of a trial team than if you’re a solo).

Again, the OP may not have actually meant that they had *no* idea what they were doing - just that they wished they’d known more, and that’s totally reasonable. “No fucking idea” was probably an exaggeration. But if it’s not and this poster really had no idea what they were doing as the only attorney, that kinda sucks for their client, right? If it was an exaggeration, it’s probably not helpful to describe/think of yourself that way - the OP probably did have some fucking idea what they were doing and they should focus on building that up rather than calling themselves incompetent.

[CanadianWolf]

Hey guys

Been practicing Personal injury for 4 years now and been a licensed lawyer for 5. Am a solo practitioner. Lost my first jury trial. Personal injury case. Tried it in a district court. He said she said situation. Unanimous 12 juror verdict. First jury trial ever in my life as an attorney. Any tips? How many of y’all have lost your first trial.

Really had no mentor and the case was a he said she said, no police report, kind of bad facts, and low meds…so it just went on credibility.

OP:Was this your first trial or your first jury trial ?

Based on your posts, you seem incompetent since much of you evidence was not admitted despite your confidence that you laid a proper foundation. Relevancy ?

Being told repeatedly to speak up suggests that you could have lost regardless of the facts as your incompetence and lack of confidence showed the jury a lack of credibility that reflects on your client.

[ughbugchugplug]

I’m sure you did fine, but I’d counsel against being so explicitly hard on yourself. A potential malpractice claim might involve discovery of your posts on TLS…?

[Anonymous User]

OP:Was this your first trial or your first jury trial ?

Based on your posts, you seem incompetent since much of you evidence was not admitted despite your confidence that you laid a proper foundation. Relevancy ?

Being told repeatedly to speak up suggests that you could have lost regardless of the facts as your incompetence and lack of confidence showed the jury a lack of credibility that reflects on your client.

OP Here, this is exactly what I think happened. Yes It was my first trial by jury.