Quote Quoting LegalWriter
View Post
Just putting my two cents in as a criminal defense attorney with 30+ years under my belt. Trial attorneys don't refer to themselves with that nomenclature. We are litigators because there is far more to a criminal case than just the trial. I have a lot of colleagues who refer to themselves as criminal defense counsel and one that titles himself a honey badger. No attorney is perfect and even someone I would consider less than stellar can win the right case in front of the right jury or pitted against the right prosecutor. Trial is war and managing a trial is an art form. Some do it well but no one does it well every time. Shit happens.
I suspect that as well.

A lot of communication and groundwork is done between counsel prior to a trial. Things like anything in writing, depo questions, phone conversations and expressed positions, motions and arguments, etc. These contacts between both attorneys will offer a feel for how good the other attorney is. You guys are human and you are aware of a good opposing counsel and an inexperienced one. I for one could even see how poor the two attorneys were that I experienced, so I am sure a seasoned litigator could detect it as well. For instance before my trial, my attorney questioned a key witness at a depo for only twenty minutes, showing my attorney was not detailed oriented. However, I was questioned at my depo for five hours. Obviously I was questioned that long because counsel was detail oriented and he was looking for anything to load his shotgun with.

Question: When it is obvious that opposing counsel is either ill prepared, taking the wrong tact or just a doofus, does it have a strong influence on how or when prosecution decides to prosecute a case? Or, how each side mounts an argument. I assume going against a Shapiro type would be intimidating and would make an attorney approach a case more delicately? Or not fight it at all.

Personally, I think attorneys from both sides size up their opposition much more than they let on. In my case, I feel my attorney did so poorly that it was telegraphed to opposing counsel pre-trial so much that it diminished any settlement offer and even embolden the other side. What are your views on that?