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[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Batten here. How are you? I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast, where we help you easily transition from a law school student into your professional career as an attorney.
[00:00:16] Scott Benton: That’s a big adjustment to make. And it’s also where we make the practice of law fun. Now today, we’re going to take a look at when you’re in a trial. I know that’s going to be a while for you, because you’re probably still a student, but nevertheless, you still need to know this information. So when you’re in a trial, you need to know the cure.
[00:00:33] Scott Benton: for disengagement, the cure for disengagement.
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[00:01:25] Scott Benton: Now, as we looked at in a previous podcast episode, when you go to trial, there are primarily three different responses that you’re going to have as an attorney, which are you’re either going to be winning during the trial or you’re going to be losing during the trial, or you’re going to be disengaged.
[00:01:41] Scott Benton: Now we need to know how to deal with all three of these positions that you may find yourself in at one point or another. Hopefully you win all of your cases because I know you’re that good, but you’ve got to be prepared for all three regardless, so that you’re never caught off guard when you’re in a courtroom and in front [00:02:00] of a judge. Whether you’re winning or losing, at the 30, 000 foot view, you’re actually, as an attorney, in a pretty good place. What I mean by that is that whether you win or lose, you’re fully engaged in the case. And for you personally, regardless of the outcome, you’re going to become a more experienced attorney.
[00:02:20] Scott Benton: And you’re going to learn from each trial that you go through, win or lose. If you win the case And I know you will. You’re going to celebrate that win, and you’re going to learn the lessons for the next time that you go to trial. Now, if you lose, then that’s too bad, and I’m sorry, but you can still lean into the lessons that trial has to teach you as well.
[00:02:41] Scott Benton: What do you think you did right, or well, and what do you think you could do better next time? This is how you learn. This is how you become an excellent attorney, and I know you want to become an excellent attorney. This is why you want to not only celebrate your wins, but also celebrate your losses.
[00:02:54] Scott Benton: Because in each case, you’re going to become a better and more skilled attorney. Now this [00:03:00] is the actual shortcut and by far the quickest path towards becoming a truly exceptional lawyer. But then there’s this whole disengagement thing, which is what we want to find a cure for. Yeah. However, before we do that, let’s agree that for the sake of this conversation, that whether you’re winning or losing in a trial, that you are fully engaged regardless of the outcome.
[00:03:23] Scott Benton: Either way, you’re in the ring fighting, like in a boxing match and in a trial there’s gonna be a winner and a loser just like a boxing match. But if you’re disengaged, then you aren’t really providing any legal services to your client. You’re largely pushing the case to another date instead of getting in the ring and fighting.
[00:03:42] Scott Benton: And there could be any variety of reasons that you’re in this disengaged posture right now, but a lot of the time it pretty much boils down to plain old fashioned fear.
[00:03:51] Scott Benton: Fear of doing something that has paralyzed you, or it’s rendered you, in a sense, frozen. You’re not even in the boxing [00:04:00] ring. You’re largely standing outside of the boxing ring, looking in. And if you find yourself in this place, then you need to recognize that you’re there. And you’ve got to find a way to get out.
[00:04:12] Scott Benton: Get yourself back into the ring and start fighting once again.
[00:04:16] Scott Benton: You as an attorney, especially if you’re a litigation attorney, you’re in it for the fight. And if the fight disappeared, you’ve got to reactivate it. So if you’re in that disengaged place, then you need to recognize the frozen fear state that you’re in, and you’ve got to do one thing that will overcome any fear state, which is to take action.
[00:04:38] Scott Benton: You can stand there forever doing nothing, or you can look at that feared activity that you’re avoiding, push yourself in that direction, and take immediate action to break through that inertia and that feeling of being stuck. There’s a book title that I really like, and it’s a good book, but you really only need to know the title.
[00:04:56] Scott Benton: You don’t even need to read the book. And it’s called, Feel the [00:05:00] Fear and Do It Anyway. That’s the place that you’ve got to get to. You need to feel the fear and do it anyway. Action kills fear. Action is your secret weapon. Action gets you out of the quicksand. And it’s going to get you back into the ring to start fighting once again.
[00:05:16] Scott Benton: Whether you’re winning or losing, it’s the fight that counts. So you’ve got to take action. Action kills fear. If you’re frozen because you’ve got to do a deposition, let’s say, and that’s just throwing you off, then go do, I don’t know, ten depositions for your other cases that need to have those done.
[00:05:34] Scott Benton: Get in front of the fear. If you’re frozen because it’s your first trial and the opposing counsel’s been doing this for ten years, then you need to realize the fear never goes away. The same fear that you’re feeling during your first or second trial, it’s the exact same fear that the opposing counsel’s feeling after even ten years of practice.
[00:05:54] Scott Benton: So get in the ring because it’s the same fear. You both have it. You’re not [00:06:00] at a disadvantage. You’re just not fighting, and that’s the difference.
[00:06:03] Scott Benton: And once you get in the ring, that fear response, it’s going to settle down. Get moving, get going, and your mind is going to start working again. It’s going to unfreeze, and you’ll be able to think clearly once you get going. You just have to get started. You have to break through that stillness, and you have to do that by taking action.
[00:06:22] Scott Benton: Action of any kind, but mostly action in the thing that has contained you. The thing that you have the fear built around. Now another tool that helps in this process and that you’re going to hear about from more experienced litigation attorneys who have done this for a long time and they’ve been through a lot of trials is that you want to remember to breathe.
[00:06:41] Scott Benton: I know that sounds a little simplistic, but stay there and keep focused on your breathing. And over a short period of time, that’s going to help give you the space and the clarity to think, and bring down the high stress levels and the high fear levels that often come with trial work. Once you’ve got your thought [00:07:00] process fully functioning, if you’ve been standing there on the sidelines and in any way you’re disengaged, Through breathing, now you’ll be able to get yourself back into the ring and fully engage in the courtroom trial.
[00:07:13] Scott Benton: So I hope that helps.
[00:07:15] Scott Benton: My name is Scott Benton. I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for watching this episode. If you’re finding this to be valuable information and you’d like to receive an alert every time we put out a new episode, you can go to our website.
[00:07:28] Scott Benton: Our website is classroom2courtroom. com. That’s classroom, the number two. courtroom dot com. You can leave us your contact information there and we will send out an alert. So that you know a new episode is available. Don’t forget to share and subscribe. And we hope you’ll join us on our next episode of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast.
[00:07:46] Scott Benton: And we also hope you’ll join us in the meantime of making the world a better place one client at a time. Thank you so much.
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