Practicing Law: Some Days It Just All Comes Together

Originally published by Cordell Parvin.

In your career you have some days that aren’t as great as others. You also have a few days when everything clicked and it all came together. You will never forget those days.

If you are a regular reader you know that we moved in March  from far north Dallas to Prosper, Texas. So far I love Prosper. It has a small town feel to it, but is close enough to Dallas. We live in a new development called Windsong Ranch. Their brochure has a photo and description of downtown Prosper.

One of the great things about moving is the forced spring cleaning. I had to go through old hard copy files and decide what I REALLY wanted to keep.

As I went through the boxes, I found a folder with the transcript of an opening statement and a final argument I made in a patent infringement case 32 years ago. It was a patent infringement case in name only. It really was a case to determine who came up with the formula for a chemical product, a de-icing that reduces the strength of ice out in the coal fields, and who was lying about coming up with the formula.

In the opening statement I told the jury that there was a technical side to the case, but there was far more and that was the people side. I said as jurors they would become detectives and would have to look at motive and fingerprints (meaning the documents prepared at the time).

I had just read a Psychology Today article about fictitious detectives who looked more at motive than fingerprints. At the beginning of the trial I was not as sure about what the “fingerprints” would show.

During the trial, when the other side made a big deal about one document, I figured out they had lied about when it was prepared, which they had to do to win the case.

I decided since I could show the lie through the documents themselves, I would save this gem until the last words from my mouth in final argument. I hoped the other side wouldn’t figure out what I was doing.

In any event, the final argument I gave on March 30, 1983 (hard to believe it was over 32 years ago) was my best day ever practicing law…Well, maybe I should say one of my best days.

I won’t bore you with the details. Let, me say that when I clearly showed the jury that the other side had lied about the date of the document and I turned to walk back to my counsel table, the faces on the other side were “ashen.”

Yes, some days it just all comes together. Savior those days.

 

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