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Scott Benton: Hey everyone, it’s Scott Benton here. I am your host on the Classroom 2 Courtroom Podcast. How are you?
We are a podcast dedicated to mostly law students, those who have just graduated law school or about to take the bar or have even passed the bar or even who have not passed the bar and are going to retake it, we know that you’re going to pass and become an attorney because you have set a long term goal.
We are here to make the transition from law student to law professional easy and to point out that the practice of law is fun. And through these conversations, we’re going to arm you with all the tools that you’re going to need in order to make your career as an Attorney fun. We are a litigation law firm.
So a lot of what we talk about comes from that point of view and people who get into a legal position where litigation is involved, not all legal jobs, as I’m sure you know, involve litigation, but our firm is involved in the [00:01:00] litigation, we are a probate.
Scott Benton: So today’s question that we’re going to take a look at is when you’re stuck on a case, when you get stuck on a case and you don’t know where to go with it, how do you get unstuck?
This is a very important tool for you to have in your toolbox because this may come up from time to time.
Now, first we want to talk about a case that you might get stuck on that we want to shine a spotlight on so we can take a look at it, put it on the table, and then remove it from the table because it is irrelevant, but it’s important that you do know that these types of cases exist.
Which I’m sure you may know, but a lot of times with cases, you might get one that you’re working on, and in the beginning you think that this is a viable case where it has a high value to it, and it’s worth working on this particular case, but then as time goes on, as new developments come in, and as you acquire information that you didn’t have during the intake process, you realize [00:02:00] that there really is no value in this case, and it’s actually not worth working on. So, at that point, you need to realize that you don’t have a good case and it’s time for you to sub out.
So you need to contact your client and explain that to them and disengage from that particular case. However, there are other cases where they are viable and you’ve just gotten completely stuck on them and you don’t know where to go and you don’t know what to do.
So sometimes cases can be very convoluted and you just aren’t sure where to go. And you start to think about it. And the next thing you realize, you’re stuck in this place of inactivity. You’re involved in a place that’s somewhere deep inside your mind. You have gotten caught in what we call paralysis of analysis. And you really don’t know what to do.
Now the problem of being in that place, where you’re stuck on a case like that, in that way, is that the antidote [00:03:00] is very hard to get to. You’re gonna reach a crossroads where you’re just not sure what direction to go. And you freeze, so to speak, and you can’t sort of move the case forward.
And that’s a place that you definitely don’t want to be and you want to recognize that you’re there because you’re going to find yourself in this place from time to time, and you need to know that you’re going to stop. You’re going to have some tools in terms of how to deal with being in that place where you’re just in that analysis of paralysis.
You are paralyzed, you’re shut down, you really don’t know where to go with the case. Now, a lot of times when clients bring a case to you, they’re hiring you because they’re just not able to articulate the nature of the case, and that’s why they’ve hired you as the expert. They’re buying your legal advice, your legal expertise, and your time so that you can help them get unstuck. And if they’re unstuck and then suddenly you get stuck, then everybody’s stuck and [00:04:00] there’s really no where to go for the case. So it’s incumbent upon you to figure out how to get yourself out of that situation. And that’s what this podcast is going to talk about today. We’re gonna arm you and give you some tools and some options in terms of moving that case along.
Keep in mind that you are really not sure what the case is at this point. And that’s what the paralysis of analysis is. You are just thinking about it and trying to put all the pieces together to really understand clarity.
You have no clarity in this case, and the problem when you have no clarity in this case is that you have no confidence in this case, and that’s going to read in your body language, it’s going to read on your face, it’s going to read in your voice, if you’re talking to the client, it’s going to read in your emails, if you’re sending them emails or even text.
That lack of confidence is something that they’re going to pick up on and something that you need to figure a way to regain that confidence so that [00:05:00] you’re communicating through all of your communication channels, a sense of confidence that your client is going to feel good about continuing to replenish their trust accounts and pay you for your legal services all the way to the end of their case. Okay?
So here you are in the state of complete inaction, the state of complete paralysis. And now we need to do something to get you out of that.
Well, fortunately,
the Classroom to courtroom podcast talks frequently about what we call the success cycle. The success cycle is a little graphic that we use and it’s going to be your key as you move into your first position as an Attorney, as you begin your career, as you’re trying to figure out how to practice as an Attorney.
You’re going to use this little tool that we have called the success cycle and the success cycle is a three part graphic that is something that you’re going to follow
Scott Benton: in terms of the first.
The first part is a to do list. The second part is performing the legal services, and the third part is billing for your [00:06:00] time.
And then you simply repeat, go back to one, that to do list. And that’s exactly what you’re going to do here when you’re stuck on a case, how you get out of it.
Scott Benton: First of all, you want to sit down and you want to look at all of the pieces that have come in. And if there’s anything that you’ve gotten from the intake process and anything new that’s come in, maybe from opposing counsel or new pieces of information you’ve been able to glean through your research, or maybe the client comes back with something new and you want to put all those pieces together.
But you’re really mostly interested in moving from a kind of cerebral space to a space of action. You’re going to go from thinking to action, that’s it. You’re going to move from just being inside of your head to being outside of your head. And the way that you do that, there’s an interim step, and this is where the success cycle comes in.
You’re going to go from that thinking space and you’re going to start to put together your to do list for that particular case. Now it doesn’t feel like you’re doing anything because you’re still doing a lot of thinking on paper, but really this is kind of a clever interim [00:07:00] step that you’re going to take between thinking and acting.
And so you’re going to put your to do list together. And when you put that to do list together, you’re also going to then prioritize the most important task that you need to get. And then the second most important task and the third most important task and so on. You’re going to put all of that in order.
And then now here’s the big moment, here’s the key. You’re not only just going to take action, which is good. You need to take action, you got to get out of your head and you need to move into a space of action. But really what you’re going to be doing is you’re going to be taking massive action. Okay? Not just little pieces here and there because you can always slip back into that mind prison of that paralysis of analysis, sort of mindscape that you get yourself into where you’re just thinking and doing nothing.
You want to really prime that action pump by taking massive action. Now you spent some time putting together the to do list for your case and now and they’re in the order of [00:08:00] priority. The most important is number one.
And the next important is number two, you are going to start at number one and you’re going to go, you’re going to do this one to do list item at a time, one task at a time, you’re going to take that one task and you’re going to perform it just like the success cycle shows us, you’re going to do the to do list, take that one item, you’re going to do perform the legal service and then you’re going to bill for your time immediately.
Don’t wait. If you wait, that puts you in a dangerous position ’cause later on you’re gonna be billing for several tasks that you completed. But we don’t want to do that, we wanna make sure that you’re billing right after, immediately after you finish one of those tasks on that to-do list. Okay?
So you’re gonna do the take that one task. You’re gonna perform that legal service, that legal action and you’re going to bill for it. You’re gonna go back to that to do list. You can take the second item. You’re gonna perform that legal service, you’re gonna bill for that item back to the to do list and you’re gonna go as fast as you can on this and get these tasks done.
You want to be accurate. You want this [00:09:00] to be good, high quality work that you’re performing for the client who has hired you for these legal services. But you want to develop a momentum and you want to get going and you don’t want to sit there in thought land, in thought jail, because otherwise nothing is going to happen, nothing is going to move, and you’re really going to risk missing deadlines and not taking care of some of the documentation that you need to take care of.
All of that is right there roadmap. The success cycle, once again, is going to save you and it’s going to be your key to performing as an Attorney in your first job or first few jobs or whatever it is. The first few years as an Attorney that you’re working, you need to know how to practice like an Attorney and that success cycle is going to be that key for you to know how to perform as an Attorney, how to practice as an Attorney.
And now that you have your to do list on this case that you’ve been stuck on for quite a [00:10:00] while, you’re going to take that one item, you’re going to perform that legal services, you’re going to bill that for that time and go back to the to do list and over and over again. And that’s how you get unstuck on a case that you are sometimes hopelessly stuck on and don’t know how to get out of.
Now, the more you do this the more you’re going to remember that when you’re in that space, you need to stop, put your to do list together and then get going on those items and check them off your list. Knock them down. Okay?
Now the first few times that this happens, it’s going to be confusing. You’re going to be stuck. It’s going to feel like your feet are, you know, in molasses. You can’t really go anywhere, but you need to sort of remember that. Okay?
To do list perform the actions bill for time to do list, it’s gonna be a little slow and you’re gonna get faster and faster and more efficient, more comfortable with this process. And before you know it, when you’re in this space where you get stuck on a case. And after you’ve exhausted all your resources, you’ve gone to other Attorneys and you’ve discussed the case [00:11:00] with them. Maybe you’ve gone to paralegals and discuss the case with them and you still find yourself stuck and you’re not sure how to get out of this.
The more that you do this, the more you’re going to remember, right? I need to sit down now, I need to put my to do list together and I need to knock those off my list and it’s literally that simple.
Now, once you have that momentum going now, things are going to start to come back to you. You’re going to have opposing counsel that’s going to respond to you, you’re going to have expert witnesses and all kinds of other activities are going to start to be generated.
So that momentum that you send out there, you know, into the universe is going to bring back to you and suddenly you couldn’t stop that case if you wanted to. You couldn’t go back into that mind prison if you wanted to because there’s gonna be so much momentum that was started and is still going.
It’s sustained, it’s continuing because you sat down and made that to do list. You perform those legal services you build for that time and you started again and you just stayed in that loop and [00:12:00] you created that momentum that then built and got faster and faster. And now you’re no longer stuck.
So I hope that’s helpful. I hope this is helpful information. If you are enjoying what we’re doing with the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast, and you’d like to receive an alert every time we put out new material, then you can go to our website.
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[00:13:00] Thank you so much, and take care.
