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Preparing for Battle

Key To The Courthouse Preparing for Battle

Prepare for Battle!

Where are you going? How will you get there? Which way is the right way?

Only foolish people start off on journeys without knowing where they're going or how to get there.

Foolish people get lost because they do not plan.

Planning is essential to winning in court.

Don’t wait till the battle is raging hot and heavy before deciding what things you must do to win your case.

Make a plan!

Then work your plan!

Keeping Track

Save stuff!

Save everything that might in any way impact the legal or factual issues in your case.

Start a case file. An old cardboard box will do. You don't need an expensive leather brief case. Anything that will help you keep everything organized is good enough. But start your case file now, not later!

Save stuff!

dates and times of related events
names, phone numbers, and addresses
descriptions of places
things people said
things people did
when postal mail was sent (postmark on evelope) and when it was received
copies of emails sent and received … printed and filed, not just in your computer
canceled checks and bank statements
invoices
demand letters
insurance policies
etcetera

Everything!

If you aren’t sure if you might possibly need it later… save it!

Organize everything.

Different folders for different stuff. File folders are cheap. Losing your case isn’t. Buy a box of file folders. Use the little tabs on those folders to write what’s in each folder. Use lots of folders.

Keep your case file uber-organized.

alphabetically
chronologically
by people’s names
etcetera

Whatever method works for you is the best method, because YOU are the one who will need to find things later when your opponent is giving you a hard time in the courtroom, the judge is staring at you menacingly and impatiently tapping his fingers on the bench, and when you've completely forgotten what you did with that canceled check or letter from your Aunt Suzy.

Organize your case file any way you wish, so long as you can lay your fingers on what you need without losing your mind and passing out.

Be prepared!

Planning for Plaintiffs

aBefore drafting or filing any papers with the court, make a written plan.

Get the “big picture” firmly in your mind before beginning.

Have an uncluttered view of the complete case before the case gets started in the court.

Write everything down!

1. Write the name of each of your causes of action or defenses at the top of a separate piece of paper.
2. For each cause of action or defense, list its essential fact elements.
3. For each essential fact element, list the evidence you have that can be admitted to prove it.
4. For each essential fact element, list the evidence discovery tools you can use to prove it.

Until you've done the foregoing, you are not ready to draft documents nor file anything with the court.

Cowboys “shoot from the hip” in movies. That doesn’t work in court. To win in court, you must take careful aim, know the most vital point on your target, then squeeeeeze the trigger carefully!

Have a plan!

Then and only then, work your plan!

Planning for Defendants

Smart defendants do something similar.

1. Write the name of each of your affirmative defenses at the top of a separate piece of paper.
2. For each affirmative defense, list its essential fact elements.
3. For each essential fact element, list the evidence you have that can be admitted to prove it.
4. For each essential fact element, list the evidence discovery tools you will use to prove it.

Keep things organized.

Paper is cheap.

Losing isn’t.

Planning for Criminal Defendants

Planning for defendants accused of crime is also similar.

1. Write the name of each alleged crime at the top of a separate piece of paper.
2. For each crime, list its essential fact elements.
3. For each essential fact element, list evidence of any alternative theory of the case and evidence tending to show that the prosecutor cannot prove the facts he alleged beyond all reasonable doubt.
4. For each alleged fact element, list the discovery tools you will use to show the fact either doesn’t exist or cannot be proven beyond all reasonable doubt.

Paperwork may not be fun, but prison isn’t be fun, either.

Plan everything in writing!

Do the work!

Going Forward

As your case moves forward, you will add to your case file.

Keep separate folders for

pleadings and pleading notes
motions
discovery requests
discovery responses
legal research
names, addresses, phone and fax numbers
etc.

Keep your case file super-organized so you can quickly find what you need when you need it.

Judges won’t permit more than a few seconds for you to fumble for what you need once you are in the courtroom. Your case is not the only case on the judge's calendar. He has other cases just as important as yours. Frequently the other cases are more important that yours. Be wise.

Mark your file tabs clearly to indicate what’s in each folder.

If you can afford it, use a cardboard “banker’s box” or plastic file box designed to hold file folders with tracks for Pendaflex^® hangers. Buy the Pendaflex® hangers and bunches of manila folders! Spend the money.

Leave room in your case file for unexpected things.

Stuff will pop up when you least expect it. Be prepared.

Conclusion

My high school shop teacher required us to draw a plan of anything we wanted to build. The plan had to be complete with all the dimensions labeled properly and showing all three orthogonal views!

I complained, “Don’t need a plan, Mr. DeWitt. I can build this birdhouse withoiut a plan!”

“Not in my shop," he'd reply with a sly fatherly grin. "Draw your plan, Graves!”

I was not allowed to get my anxious hands on any tools or materials I'd need to build whatever it was that our next lesson required us to build. For every project I had to go to the drafting table with T-square, triangles, and sharpened pencil. I was required to make construction drawings and pass his inspection.

I learned from Mr. DeWitt that practice by itself does not make perfect, as the old adage claims.

Planning does.

Don’t skip planning.

It’s important!

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Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment. No portion of this course may be published, duplicated, shared, or used by anyone other than the current subscribers.

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