May the Record Reflect

In Episode 13 of “May the Record Reflect,” communications specialist Carol Sowers returns, bringing Judge Mark Drummond with her, to talk about meeting needs of the trial community in the strange new world of Zoom. Video hearings, depositions, jury trials, and even conference calls are now the new normal, but when your client has everything on the line, you must elevate your on-camera presentation. Judge Drummond and Carol talk about NITA’s 1:1 coaching that helps you do exactly that, and they dispense advice that you can instantly apply to your next engagement on Zoom.

Topics

4:29     Individualized, one-on-one coaching
7:24     Session structure
8:38     Instantaneous review and re-do
10:30  Communication skills through Zoom 
11:26  Office setups and backgrounds
13:33  Overcoming the challenges of remote advocacy
15:16  Court-ordered virtual backgrounds, using exhibits in Zoom 
17:45  Role-playing expert witness examination and using exhibits
19:44  Tips on talking to the camera, lighting, eyeglass reflection
22:30  Blue light from monitors that wash out complexions
24:40  Makeup suggestions
26:05  Best clothing colors for the camera
26:52  What contributes to Zoom fatigue
28:32  Tiles for trials and “Hide Self View”
30:07  Jury trials, body language, and constitutional muster
34:15  Gravitas in the remote courtroom
38:01  What Judge Drummond and Carol have learned
40:42  Signature signoff question

Quote

“You want to be concentrating, if it’s a [Zoom] hearing, you want to have the fewest tiles [onscreen] possible. So, you want to have the exhibit perhaps on one tile [by using] Share Screen, and you want that witness’s face as large as possible so you can see the witness reaction. So, you don’t need your face on the screen.” (Judge Mark Drummond)

“My little mantra is ‘Minimizing the distractions in order to maximize the message.’ It’s not necessarily that you have to have the perfect Zoom setup. You don’t have to have the perfect background or the perfect lighting. What you want to consider is doing everything you can to minimize anything that’s going to be distracting when people are watching you on Zoom, because if they’re distracted by the visual, they’re going to miss your very important verbal message.” (Carol Sowers)  

Recommended Resources

Free Virtual Summit: COVID, the Court, and the Future of the Jury Trial

1:1 Coaching for Remote Deposition

1:1 Coaching for Remote Hearing or Trial

NITA Resources for Representing Your Client Online

Boy de Chanel

When Court Moves Online, Do Dress Codes Still Matter?

In Episode 12 of “May the Record Reflect,” we get tools, tips, and resources that will help you keep up momentum in your legal career development. Professional development officers Amy Hancock and Tim Henderson talk about making the most of the challenges—and opportunities—that the pandemic has brought.

Topics

3:49 Effects of pandemic on legal career development
5:36 Work-life balance for the home office
10:50 Leadership support during individual struggles
16:17 Fostering collegiality
19:28 Cooking classes and holiday celebrations
22:50 Frequency of social touch points
24:18 “We are one firm”
27:45 Business development and client outreach
34:10 Where pro bono fits in
38:31 Silver linings of these strange times
42:19 Advice after job loss
47:58 The future of the virtual law office
51:30 Job interview tips
54:52 Signature sign-off question

Quotes

“I think that just as in-house lawyers are overtaxed and overworked and stressed right now, so are all of the agencies that support those in our communities that are in need. They are overtaxed and they need backup relief and assistance now more than ever, and many of the things they do provide great training and development opportunities, especially for young litigators. I think that you can couple the needs of these organizations for more manpower with the abundance of the social justice causes out there that they are serving and plug yourself right into them.” (Amy Hancock)

“I think one of the more important and significant things we’ve seen as a silver lining is the opportunity to learn, shadow, and kind of view real-time proceedings, real-time client meetings, real-time patent examiner interviews, real-time pitches because it’s much easier to do that virtually than it is if they were traveling to a different court or jurisdiction or traveling to a client site for their pitch.” (Tim Henderson)

Recommended Resources
Amy Hancock (bio)

Tim Henderson (firm)

Professional Development Consortium (PDC)  

PDC COVID-19 Resources

How to Navigate Working from Home During Time of COVID-19 (ABA)

Job-Search Tips for Attorneys During COVID-19 (ABA)

In Episode 11 of the podcast, we discuss issues that women face as legal practitioners. Guests Judge Alia Moses and civil litigator Nicole Westbrook talk about how their shared passion for the law forged their respective career paths and offer guidance for navigating the personal and professional perils common to the practice of law. Judge Moses is the first woman federal judge in history to be seated on the federal bench for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Westbrook’s litigation practice at Jones and Keller is focused on complex commercial law; she got her start as a law clerk for Judge Moses.

Topics
3:03     Career beginnings
4:46     Experiences as “baby lawyers”
6:56     Practice areas where men outnumber women
8:46     Judge Moses’s interest in the bench
9:43     Major issues facing women in law
14:40  Work-life balance
15:51  COVID’s effect on flexible workspaces and schedules
19:10  Is remote law work good for women? 
20:00  Year Eight “partner track” or “mommy track”
23:30  Women judges at the federal versus state level
25:23  Working with men
28:50  Generational differences
36:20  The “jealous mistress” of law
37:42  #metoo
42:36  Mentorship
46:00  Advice for young women entering law
49:18  Signature signoff question

Quote
“My advice is to pursue a culture, not a paycheck, especially out of some of the larger law firms like the type that the judge and I went to. You’re very much pressured to go into the biggest law firm that you can find and make that big check—and, of course, we all are swimming in debt and so it seems like a good idea at the time. I would strongly encourage you to be more exacting than that and to really focus on the culture, and what role do you see yourself doing, and what do you want to do.” (Nicole Westbrook) 

Recommended Resources

Nicole Westbrook (bio)

U.S. District Court Judge Alia Moses (profile)

Building a Pipeline to a More Diverse Appellate Bar (article)

In Episode 10, Boulder, Colorado-based coach Will Murray shares how trial lawyers can take the techniques of triathlon performance and endurance training that Murray specializes in and apply them to the endurance tests of litigation and trial practice. Much of it is mental, he notes, and tells us how to develop discipline, recode memories and motivations in our brains, calm our nerves in the moment, deal with traumatic stress (our clients’ and our own), and even get a better night’s sleep in the midst of a busy trial.  

Topics

2:39     The four pillars of endurance
4:16     How trial lawyers are like triathletes
6:22     Discipline
7:11     Flexing your discipline muscle
9:40     “Recoding” your motivations as pleasure
10:34  Pleasure principle
11:29  Tips and tricks for recoding
15:00  Visualization and muscle memory
16:00   Taking cues from negative memories
18:37  Easy fixes for nerves
21:28  Mapping trial times when you’ll need a boost
24:00   Knowing our own weaknesses
24:57  Overcoming apprehension
26:57  Visualization
27:34  “Learning by doing” 
30:04  PTSD on the witness stand
32:50  Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM) protocol
34:42  Traumatic compassion
36:45  Tips for sleeping and rest
24:35  Signature signoff question

Quote

“Our brains are good golden retrievers. They aim to fetch what you throw at them, so throw the thing you want to have happen.” (Will Murray)

Recommended Resources

Will Murray (website)

The Four Pillars of Triathlon (Will Murray and Craig Howie, book) 

Writing a Plan in 7 Steps (Will Murray, article)

Reconciliation of Traumatic Memories: A New Treatment for PTSD (NLP Research & Recognition Project, article)

A joint ABA/Hazelden study in 2016 found significant rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, alcoholism, and addiction among licensed, employed lawyers in America. In Episode 9, we hear from DeAnna Crosby, addictions specialist and clinical director of a dual-diagnosis treatment clinic in Southern California, about the unique caretaking responsibilities that make lawyers susceptible to anxiety, depression, and self-medication and what resources are available to create a life beyond the bottle. 

Topics

3:45     Statistics on addiction and mental illness among lawyers

5:55     Lawyers and vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout

9:26     Drinking “trends” 

10:52  Self-medication

15:02  Dual diagnoses of substance abuse and mental illness

16:22  Knowing if you have a drinking problem

18:52  Lawyers and other gold-collar professionals

20:54  Drinking at law school

22:13  Generational issues

25:40  Managing sobriety

28:23  Genograms

32:08  Prevalence of alcohol

35:01  Distress tolerance

39:00  Favorite resources

45:38  Signature signoff question

Quote

“One of the things that’s interesting is so many people when they get sober, they say, ‘Everyone’s gonna know. Everyone’s gonna know that I’m not drinking, and what am I gonna say?’ Most people don’t care. Most people are so obsessed with themselves that they don’t even notice that you’re not drinking.” DeAnna Crosby

Recommended Resources

ABA, Hazelden National Study on Attorney Substance Abuse, Mental Health

Journal of Addiction Medicine article

ABA Directory of Lawyer Assistance Programs

AA Questions

Genograms

Understanding the High-Functioning Alcoholic (book)

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts (book)

Codependent No More (book)

Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong (TED Talk)

Brian Cuban’s The Addicted Lawyer blog

I’m in recovery and my office just moved above a bar (great comments section)

In Episode 8 of the podcast, we are joined by Kansas District Court Judge Amy Hanley and D.C. civil litigator Reuben Guttman to talk about how to get it right in video and telephonic hearings. The disruptions caused by the covid pandemic have suddenly moved the courtroom into your dining room, and our guests are sharing their best do’s and don’ts from their respective positions on and before the bench. The Honorable Amy Hanley is based in Lawrence, Kansas, and presides over a civil, domestic, and criminal docket for the Seventh Judicial District of Douglas County. In his class action and complex civil litigation practice, Reuben Guttman has become one of the most prominent whistleblower lawyers in the world. 

Topics

6:04    Constitutional and statutory constraints
9:12    Preparing your client 
11:20  Judges’ expectations
13:40  Putting clients at ease
15:08  Courtroom transition to online 
16:51  Views from the bench
18:33  Creating formality
23:17  Equal time 
29:25  Exhibits and judge preferences
31:43  Presenting exhibits
33:45  Making a court record
35:25  Recording the hearing
36:44  Communicating with client
40:25  Witness sequestration
41:42  Confidentiality issues
43:26  Public Zoom hearings
46:00  Closing advice
48:20  Technology’s impact on the law
49:07  Signature “softball”

Quotes

“If your judge doesn’t have the protocol [for remote hearings], don’t be afraid to ask for it. A little secret that I’ll let you in on is that judges love it when counsel does that work for us. You might be better suited to draft and propose a protocol due to your familiarity with the technology or because you know the witnesses and exhibits that need to be used. And we love it when you do that work for us ahead of time and send in a draft that we can use as a starting point.” Judge Amy Hanley

“It’s important to get [clients] to appreciate what it’s going to look like, what they’re going to look like, in the courtroom and to have them to appreciate that maybe the judge might actually pose a question to them directly, to rehearse some of that so they’re not surprised. If you’re sitting next to somebody, it’s a lot easier to tap them and say, ‘It’s ok, don’t worry about it. Answer the question,’ but remotely, I mean, there’s an intuitive sense of fear: ‘Oh, my God, I’m not prepared for this.’ So, the idea is that you want to make sure whether you’re putting your client on from prison or jail, or whether you’re putting your client on from a hospital room, you want to make sure that at least they understand what the possibilities are, in preparing them. I call it inoculation, inoculation against the possibilities that may give them anxiety.” Reuben Guttman

Recommended Resources

Douglas County District Court Guidelines for Court Hearings on Zoom

Using Zoom for Court Hearings

Videoconferencing in the Courtroom

First Emergency Order Regarding the COVID-19 State of Disaster, Supreme Court of Texas

Remote Testimony and Fed. R. Crim. P. 26

Center for Legal & Court Technology Best Practices

In Episode 7 of May the Record Reflect, we’re joined by Brooklyn Law School Assistant Professor of Legal Writing Catharine DuBois. Catharine serves as Program Director for NITA’s courses in persuasive writing, including an online version that starts next week. Among the topics she discusses with host Marsi Buckmelter are the importance of prewriting activities, organizing your document on the macro and micro levels, getting past writer’s block, creativity and the editorial process, and how to proofread your own work.  

Topics

3:09     What lawyers typically want to improve in their writing
3:53     A good timeline for your writing project
5:55     A crucial step that lawyers often omit
6:45     Outlining and writer’s block
8:28     Considerations about a writer’s audience
9:11     “What is the point?”
10:10   The importance of prewriting document organization 
11:50  “The test” 
13:36    Developing your writing muscle
15:55   Overcoming writer’s block
18:40   Shutting down your inner critic and perfectionism
22:56  Why it’s ok that your first draft stinks
24:40  Two tips to come back to when you’re stuck
28:26  Words for listening versus words for reading
29:20  Reading your drafts aloud as an editing tool
31:12   The challenge of proofreading
34:45  Whether to draft by hand or by keyboard
36:43  Catharine’s current writing project
40:44  “Signature softball” question 

Quote
“Nobody is writing a good first draft, and so what happens with my students and with my practitioners is, they get caught up in this idea that ‘I need to put into my reader’s ear the first draft, and if I can’t do that, I’m not a good writer.’ And what I encourage all of them to do is embrace what I was saying before: you’re going to write a writer’s-based first draft. It is for you, you are figuring it out, you are getting ideas on the page, and every single minute you spend doing that is useful to what you need to create in what we call the ‘shadow preparation’ for what you’re writing. Use it, make use of it, but reorganize it so it works for your final draft, which is for your reader, and be willing to edit it down to nothing if you need.” (Catharine DuBois)

Recommended Resources

Catharine DuBois—Brooklyn Law School

Writing Persuasive Briefs online course

The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron

Julia Cameron Wants You to Do Your Morning Pages (New York Times)

Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott’s Sh!tty First Drafts essay

In Episode 6 of the podcast, former tv news anchor Carol Sowers shares her tips for becoming more at ease in the physical side of your courtroom performance: how to speak with confidence, project a pleasing vocal quality, connect with jurors, tame your nerves, and rebound from your mistakes. Carol spent more than thirty years as a broadcast professional for CBA/ABC Affiliate station KHQA in Quincy, Illinois, where she worked as a reporter and main anchor all the way up to vice president for public affairs—and everything in between. When she retired from the news, she began training broadcasters and law enforcement and governmental officials in public speaking. She now offers that same training to trial lawyers at NITA programs across the U.S. and abroad. 

Topics

2:58 Breaking up with your notes

4:27 Muscle memory and the mind-body connection

6:30 Preparation and practice

9:00 Writing “for the eye” versus “for the ear”

10:18 Cultivating a pleasing vocal quality

13:10 “Shrill” 

14:33 Warming up for a presentation

17:55 Learning about public speaking from trial lawyers

19:40 Communicating while sitting versus standing

22:00 Hand gestures

24:35 Question about Broadcast News

25:25 Looking sharp

27:40 “The Three C’s”

32:08 Effective eye contact

35:15 Using emotion while speaking

38:57 Managing mistakes and anxiety 

40:32 How to regroup discreetly

45:20 Communicating in high- and low-context cultures

49:32 Changes in culture

51:46 Signature “softball”

Quote
“I try to use . . . eye contact, especially at the beginning of a presentation, as a way to give myself some confidence. I automatically seek out people who look friendly or look engaged. Maybe they’re smiling at me, maybe they’re nodding their head. Because at the beginning when I’m a little bit nervous, that adrenaline rush is making me feel a little uncomfortable, I like to get that little boost of confidence from those people. So, those are the people I’m going to seek out first, and once I get that little smile or little nod of acknowledgment, then I’m going to move on to other people around the room.” Carol Sowers

Recommended Resources

10 Tips for Presenting Yourself Online—Carol Sowers

Webcast—Remote Advocacy: Representing Your Client during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Carol Sowers LinkedIn

Celebrating Carol Sowers’s Nearly 30 Years with KHQA

NITA Whitepaper: Communication Tips from NITA’s experts

Broadcast News (1987 Movie)

Broadcast News Movie Clip—Aaron Struggles on Air

High-context and low-context cultures

NITA International Programs

In Episode 5 of the podcast, we are joined by international communications expert Rebecca Diaz-Bonilla. Rebecca got her start as a theatre major in college, but it was as a law student that she first became aware of how nerves and unpolished communication skills tripped up even the most brilliant intellectual arguments of her fellow classmates—an observation that continued well into her law practice. This gap led Rebecca to blend her background in theater and the law, to teach professionals about overriding their nerves so they could excel at public speaking.

Rebecca’s consulting work takes her around the world as she coaches lawyers, executives, and politicians how to communicate with power and effect. Rebecca is a longtime faculty member and author for NITA.

Topics
3:04 From theater to law 
5:30 “Acting” and emotional self-control 
7:17 What makes a trial lawyer unlikeable 
8:35 “Other-centeredness” and self-awareness 
11:50 Confidence, credibility, clarity, likeability 
15:00 Phone and video conferencing basics 
21.08 Importance of motion practice 
22:30 Types of courtroom communications 
25:17 Developing extemporaneous speaking skills 
28:38 Gender differences in communication styles 
32:12 Diagnosing your adrenaline surge 
38:03 Improv training for lawyers 
40:10 New media and oral communication skills 
42:17 Communicating across the generation gap 
45:58 Elocution to admire 
48:01 Signature “softball” 

Quote
“Becoming self-aware for a trial lawyer is so important so that you’re able to stay attuned to what are each and every one of those jurors thinking, what’s the judge thinking, how are they feeling, how is that witness dealing with being up on that stand and being asked questions? And the second you act pompous and disrespectful you lose the case for your client.” Rebecca Diaz-Bonilla 

Recommended Resources
Rebecca Diaz-Bonilla

Foolproof: The Art of Communication for Lawyers and Professional

Point Well Made: Oral Advocacy in Motion Practice

Children Interrupt BBC News interview – BBC News

Fix Your Totally Miserable Conference Calls

A Video Conference Call in Real Life

Seven Business Lessons for Lawyers from Improv Comedy

Kobe Bryant’s Last Great Interview

Kobe Bryant on Shaq Drama & Raising Four Daughters

Kobe Bryant – The Interview with Ahmad Rashad

In Episode 4, we wrap up this week’s National Celebration of Pro Bono by talking to Stephanie Ledesma. Stephanie is the Associate Dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law Experiential Education program in Houston and one of NITA’s national faculty members. In addition to developing curricula for law schools, agencies, and other legal professionals, she serves the bar on the local, state, national, and international level and volunteers within her Houston community. Stephanie’s recent travel to Namibia to teach for NITA is a case in point for the nearness and dearness in her heart for public service. 

Topics
2:38 General volunteer work 
3:09 Pro bono cases
3:30 Volunteer work in Namibia
5:15 Why does public service matter
6:52 Why I volunteer for NITA 
8:52 Signature “softball” 

Quote
“Until I crossed the border [into Nabimia] with Judge Ann Williams, I didn’t realize that globally we are the same people. We are working for the same cause. We are doing the same work. I was energized to a different level with that work.” Stephanie Ledesma

Recommended Resources
Stephanie Ledesma on LinkedIn
Thurgood Marshall School of Law Experiential Education
Namibia Teacher Training and Trial Advocacy – NITA Public Service Program
Stephanie Ledesma Receives Appointment at Thurgood Marshall
Catholic Charities of NYC – NITA Public Service Program

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