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[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. I am the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast where we help you to easily transition from law school student into your professional career as an actual bonafide for real life attorney. and where we even make the practice of law fun.
[00:00:22] Scott Benton: And today we’re going to answer the question of what are Background case facts, not case facts or regular case facts.
[00:00:29] Scott Benton: What are background case facts?
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[00:01:20] Scott Benton: So before we answer that question of what background case facts are, why don’t we take a look at what regular case facts are. Now in general, regular case facts, or we’ll just call them case facts, are likely going to pertain to the argument of your case, and they’re probably going to become part of the narrative Your overall case of storyline, and they’re gonna appear as some form of evidence that the judge is going to see or hear about during the course of your case.
[00:01:48] Scott Benton: If it goes to hearing or trial now, these are usually tangible legal facts that pertain to the law, and they’re gonna have a direct bearing on the strategy that you’ve chosen for the case. [00:02:00] So those regular case facts or case facts may also determine the weight of the evidence you’re going to be presenting to the court and it’s ultimately going to help you win your case.
[00:02:09] Scott Benton: However those are not the only case facts in a case that you can obtain. There are other case facts but in general these regular case facts they tend to get more visibility and they tend to get more popularity because those are the ones that get seen. In a case by a judge and opposing counsel and everybody is aware of these case facts and they are definitely important
[00:02:33] Scott Benton: because without them, you really have no ammunition to prove your case or to leverage them against the opposing side’s argument. But then we have what we’re exploring today, which are background case facts. And these background case facts, for the most part, are not going to be something that the judge is going to be interested in seeing.
[00:02:54] Scott Benton: But they are going to be facts that you as the attorney for your client are going to be [00:03:00] very interested in. So let’s look at what background case facts are so that we can better understand why they might even be stronger facts to have in your arsenal than the actual case facts. That’s not to negate the actual case facts, but it is to say that they are as equally important if not more so in some cases.
[00:03:19] Scott Benton: Background case facts are generally facts that you collect That are going to inform you behind the why and the reason that your client called an attorney in the first place. They can often be strong feelings or emotions that your client has had that brought them to your office. It could have more to do with the relationships between their family members.
[00:03:41] Scott Benton: Or maybe it could be dreams or desires that your client has. That they want to fulfill, or it could be some kind of promise, maybe that they made to somebody else that’s driving their legal goals. And these are going to be more like soft facts or underlying facts that are going to largely be the engine [00:04:00] driving the case.
[00:04:01] Scott Benton: So background case facts are going to be ideas that only get expressed between you and your client. And they’re usually not going to go outside of that relationship. They’re going to stay pretty much self contained in the conversations that you’re having with your client. Because at the end of the day, this is really what’s important to your client.
[00:04:21] Scott Benton: This is really what matters to them and why they contacted you, why they engaged your legal services. So you want to make sure that whenever you talk to them, you’re reminding them of these background facts, because This is what’s driving them. These background facts are going to keep your client interested in moving the case forward.
[00:04:42] Scott Benton: And so returning to a conversation about these facts is going to remind them over and over again why they’re pursuing their case in the first place. It’s going to help you shine a spotlight on that emotional core of the case, which is going to help keep the work you’re doing squarely on track.
[00:04:59] Scott Benton: And it’s [00:05:00] going to help your client always remember why they’re doing this. And it’s going to keep them moving the case forward. In other words, they’re not going to disappear on you, and stop refilling their account. Now, regular case facts are the facts that you’re going to be using. During your case and facts of the judge in the opposing party, you’re gonna freely know about and that they have access to.
[00:05:23] Scott Benton: But the more secret background facts, they’re largely gonna be completely unknown to the judge, completely unknown to the opposing party. So in effect, for a single case, you’re essentially gonna be carrying around. You can think of it this way. You’re gonna be carrying around Two different types of case facts with you at all times.
[00:05:44] Scott Benton: And you’re going to be switching between those two different case types, depending on who you’re talking to. Now that doesn’t mean you’re not going to talk to your client about the regular case facts. You will. It means you’re going to make sure that private case [00:06:00] types don’t get mixed up with public case types when it comes to the judge, the courtroom, opposing counsel.
[00:06:06] Scott Benton: They only get to hear the regular case files. The regular case facts. Now here’s the key to this. The whole time you’re working on the case together, you and your client will have an understanding. And sometimes it’s an unspoken understanding based on previous conversations. But nonetheless, you’re going to have an understanding into the entire why.
[00:06:27] Scott Benton: Behind the legal objectives that you’re pursuing, even if they’re never stated out loud in the courtroom or during an online hearing, for instance. In fact, you want to keep those why reasons under wraps at all times. So those more secret case facts, they’re there only for you to know. And they’re going to help you add essentially booster rockets towards achieving your legal objectives.
[00:06:51] Scott Benton: And in fact, you can let that secret knowledge help drive your case. You always know that is essentially what the case is about, even [00:07:00] though no one else does except for you and your client. And at the very least, you’re going to have a mutual, motivational fuel source as you work your way towards the winner’s circle at the end of the case. So your ability to proficiently compartmentalize these two different case fact types is going to greatly help you navigate facts that belong to the law and facts that belong to only you and your client. And when you have command of both of those types of facts and you can easily switch between the two whenever you have to, that’s when you’re going to start to find yourself practicing law with abandon.
[00:07:36] Scott Benton: And it’s going to help you push up your profile as an effective attorney.
[00:07:40] Scott Benton: So I hope that helps. I’m your host, Scott Benton. I am the host of the Classroom to Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Now, if this is information that you like, and you would like to receive an alert every time we put out a new episode, you can go to our website.
[00:07:54] Scott Benton: Our website is classroom2courtroom. com. That’s classroom. The number to [00:08:00] courtroom dot com. You can leave us your contact information and we will send you an alert whenever we have a new episode available. And if you do like this material, don’t forget to share, and subscribe. That always helps us out.
[00:08:12] Scott Benton: We hope that you’ll join us for the next episode of the classroom to courtroom podcast. And until then, we hope you’ll also join us in making the world a better place. One client at a time. Thank you so much.
