First, some background: The wheels of justice would come to a screeching halt without the Court’s power to subpoena non-party witnesses to testify in court. Subpoenaed witnesses, like it or not, must appear in court, take the oath, and testify about what they saw, heard, or know. In civil cases…
Are you against frivolous lawsuits? Good, me too. Not to worry. I’ve got the solution. Hold on. First a story. Several years ago, a fellow Central New York personal injury lawyer secured a famously large settlement on a personal injury case. At a party a few days later, someone took…
One great thing about being a personal injury trial lawyer, whether in New York or elsewhere, is that you can keep improving, keep getting better, keep honing your skills, forever. Recently I have been listening to lectures by some of the best New York trial lawyers, as well as great…
Fellow New York personal injury lawyers (and would-be ones) let me tell you about a free online subscription I just love. Eliot Wilcox, a Florida trial lawyer, runs a great blog with an email subscription to a weekly trial skills review. It is a three minute read each Friday, and…
What are the most important weapons a personal injury lawyer brings to court? Give up? OK, I’ll tell you: words. Words are the arrows in the personal injury lawyer’s quiver. The “mot juste” (the right word), as the French say, can make all the difference. That’s why the best New…
In February 1967, a young lady showed up for her first day of work at the Auburn, New York law offices of attorney George M. Michaels, our own Lee Michaels’ father. (George is famous in New York – you can look him up on wikipedia). Lee, a young whipper-snapper fresh…
I have a Syracuse New York wrongful death trial coming up in about six weeks. Six weeks may seem like a long time to you, but for preparing a complex trial, it is not. I started gearing up a few weeks ago. The first thing I do is create a…
Although I am a New York personal injury lawyer 95% of the time, every once in a while I let myself get talked into representing a plaintiff in a non-injury case. Usually it is to sue for breach of contract or something like that. Recently, I had a three-day bench…
http://www.baltimoreinjurylawyerblog.com/2011/10/should_lawyers_be_required_to.html I ran across a fellow personal injury attorney’s blog post pointing out that only one state, Oregon, requires attorneys to be covered by malpractice insurance. When you think about it, it is amazing there are no laws on the books in other states requiring attorneys to carry malpractice insurance,…
I ran across a fellow personal injury attorney’s blog post pointing out that only one state, Oregon, requires attorneys to be covered by malpractice insurance. When you think about it, it’s amazing the other 49 states, including New York, do not require attorneys to carry malpractice insurance, especially personal injury…