This may never have happened to you, but it has happened to other attorneys. It looks like you're on the losing side of a case or an issue in a case. What can you do? Here's what is for many attorneys an out-of-the-box solution: Ask your client to help you solve the problem in their case.
Let's say that, for any of a number of reasons, you want to change the venue in a case. But the other side has raised serious issues that could defeat the change and you've exhausted every solution you can think of.
Try this as an out-of-the-box solution: Tell your client what the problem is. Then ask the client for help. For instance, a change of venue problem might go like this: "Wilbert, you know where your case is going to be tried. And you know we need to change that, but there are problems that may stop us from being able to do that. Here's what the other side says. Do you have any ideas on how we might defeat their arguments?"
Now, here's what actually happened in a case in Louisiana. Wilbert Rideau has been incarcerated for over 35 years after having been convicted of murder. The New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 31, 2003, quotes Life magazine as having called Rideau "the most rehabilitated prisoner in America."
Without going into all the prior history of Rideau's various trials and reversals of convictions, he was going to be tried anew in Calcasieu Parish. However, that was a very unfavorable venue for him because, among other reasons, that was where the killing occurred. Over the years several lawyers have represented Rideau. His new attorneys were going to file a motion to change the venue, but they were worried that the judge would not grant their motion. Here's how the Times-Picayune reported that Rideau himself may have solved the change of venue problem that so vexed his attorneys:
"[A]mid the legal wrangling, Rideau stepped back from the fray and asked his attorneys why they were battling the Calcasieu [Parish] district attorney's office at all. Rideau pointed out that he had always filed court papers in East Baton Rouge Parish, where the case was moved in 1964 because of unfair publicity in Rideau's hometown.
"After some legal research, the response from his attorneys was a resounding, 'Duh!' "
And no one had even asked Rideau for help! Here the client may have himself solved the problem that could lead to his release. And this was without anyone asking him for help. Just think about all the other times that clients might have solved their own problems – but they were never asked for their input – and their case was lost.
Think about telling your clients in lay terms the problems in their cases and asking for their input. Try it even if you don't think it will help. You might be surprised. They may have what is for them an obvious solution. But that obvious solution might, for you, be a real out-of-the-boxer.
As with Rideau's attorneys, your response to your client's answer might even be "a resounding 'Duh!' "
Posted by ajlevy at July 8, 2003 3:46 PM