Scott Key & Associates
  • Home
  • Practice Areas
    • Embedded Counsel
    • Appeals
    • Trial Litigation
  • Meet The Team
    • Scott Key
    • Kayci Timmons
    • Tori Bradley
    • Sam Kuperberg
  • Resources
    • Blogs
    • Podcasts
    • Upload Consultation Documents
    • FAQs
  • Contact
  • Call 678-610-6624
  • Menu Menu

Simplicity: A Recipe for Successful Litigation

September 14, 2021/by J. Scott Key

The last few days, I’ve been reading out of two books. The first, The Rules of the Road by Friedman and Malone, is about how to prove liability in a Plaintiff’s case. It has a simple thesis: if you stick to traditional legal definitions of liability in negligence lawsuits, you will get killed. The jury will get confused, and they’ll let the defendant off the hook.

The second, one I’m reading for fun, is Michael Pollen’s Cooked. His thesis, too, is simple. We spend less time cooking than ever before. And if we spent a bit more time cooking, we would reclaim some basic things in our lives, such as community, connection, and a bit of freedom from the corporations to whom we have outsourced so much of our cooking.

As I read these books, I started seeing connections between them. And in seeing those connections I discerned an even more basic thesis: a basic recipe for success in just about any endeavor comes in simplifying things as much as you possibly can. Then simplify some more. Let me show you what I mean.

The 3 P’s of Cooking According To Michael Pollen

The 3 P’s of Cooking According To Michael Pollen

Pollen immersed himself in the techniques and practices of the best chefs in the world, from pit masters in North Carolina to famous brewers and bakers. And yet, by the end of each chapter, he returns to the same point – none of it is difficult. The techniques are basic. Speaking of a pitmaster in North Carolina, he wrote this: “Over the course of our conversations, Ed had gone back and forth on the relative difficulty and mystery of his art. More than once, he had alluded tantalizingly to ‘trade secrets,’ but other times he disclaimed there were any such things. This was one of those times. ‘It’s hard work, but there’s really nothing all that complicated about making good barbecue.’ Which might be the deepest, darkest secret of all.”

In fact, he finally writes that cooking comes down to three things

  1. Patience: You must give whatever you are doing time to finish. It seems like every dish he learned to cook comes down to cooking over time with low heat.
  2. Presence: When you are engaged in it, your attention cannot be divided. Cooking doesn’t mix well with a smart phone, for instance.
  3. Practice: Cooking is a practice. There are no real mysteries to it, but you get better at most of it with repetition.

The 3 Enemies of the Plaintiff Attorney

And in the same sitting where I read about Pollen’s 3 points of cooking, I turned to Friedman, who has three points of his own; the 3 enemies of the Plaintiff’s attorney.

  1. Complexity: The more complex your opponent can make matters seem, the more difficult it is to win the case.
  2. Confusion: The more a jury is confused, the more the jury is likely to stick with the status quo. The less likely a jury is to find fault with the defendant
  3. Ambiguity: The more ambiguous matters appear, the less likely you are to win. And when you go to trial, you are doing battle against, not just your opponent, but with the tendency in the law to make things seem ambiguous, even when they aren’t.

Attention Lawyers: It’s Not That Complicated

Attention Lawyers: It’s Not That Complicated (Really)

Lawyers like to make it all seem complicated. But cases generally come down to simple things. I recently finished a case with a 50,000-page transcript. The trial filled about 10 months of court time. And I’ve done appeals of cases that were a day in length with a one-volume transcript. What did these cases have in common? They both came down to one thing. Indeed, all cases come down to one thing. Juries, even appellate courts don’t pick between two sides. They choose between two stories. By the case’s end, one story beats the other. Generally, the simplest story wins.

There is no secret to any of it. The answers are out there for the taking. It’s often not talent – it’s just hard work. And that is the deepest secret of all.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on X
  • Share on X
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
0 0 J. Scott Key /wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.png J. Scott Key2021-09-14 16:59:012021-09-14 16:59:01Simplicity: A Recipe for Successful Litigation

Related Resources

  • Living a Fulfilling Life (as a Lawyer)
  • Originalist Textualism 101 for Practitioners with Keith Blackwell
  • What I’ve Read, Heard, And Am Pondering This Week: June 1
  • Textualism As An Advocacy Tool
  • What I’ve Read, Heard, And Am Pondering This Week: March 7
  • Embracing the Legal Fundamentals with William Maselli

Archives

  • October 2024
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • August 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010

ADDRESS

199 W Jefferson St.
Madison, GA 30650

PHONE

678-610-6624

EMAIL

tori@scottkeylaw.com
© Scott Key & Associates, all rights reserved. | Website by Madison Studios  
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
Frank Hogue: Keeping Politics and Unpopularity Out of the CourtroomRobin Frazer Clark: Bringing the Case into Focus
Scroll to top