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I met one of my best friends at my first solo hearing 15 years ago - she was opposing counsel and it was also her first hearing, and we were both nervous as hell. Good luck and I hope it goes well.
Love this!
Things never go as planned, so have an outline of the points you MUST hit. Remember to listen to what counsel and the judge are saying, and then respond.
Breathe. Don't be afraid to take a few seconds to pause before you speak. You'll do great!
I was in your position back in March or April. Since then I’ve done too many hearings and trials to count. You will be fine so long as you know the facts of your case and the correct legal standard. Be brief. Don’t argue over trivial points as it irritates the judges. Judges like when you concede unwinnable points and focus on the narrow issue as you look reasonable. Don’t be surprised if the judge tries to force you to settle at the hearing. Happens to me in 80% of hearings. So I’d be prepared with a number your client is willing to accept just in case. You don’t want to seem like the unreasonable one for refusing to at least pretend to be open to settlement. You’ll blink, and it’ll be over! You’ve got this, and nobody would be letting you do this if you weren’t already prepared. You are far more ready than you believe you are
Oh and don’t be intimidated by the other side! I can’t tell you how many lawyers I’ve met that might have been practicing for 10 or even 40 years compared to my 2, but they don’t bother to prepare, rest on their laurels and try to hide their unpreparedness by bullying me and going on and on about how much more experience they have than I do. You can still win, and I believe you’re more likely to win than they are because you still feel nervous which makes you prepare to overcompensate. They lose because they can’t be bothered to prepare because they trivialize cases that aren’t worth $10 million.
In person or virtual? Go to court or log into Zoom early, watch what other attorneys do, take a deep breath, and be confident that you probably prepared most of the other attorneys. Good luck!
If you’re going in person, make sure you show up 45 mins-an hour earlier than your scheduled hearing time. Parking/security and finding the Courtroom will take longer than you think, and you don’t want to be flustered walking in late.
Pro
Don’t worry about looking or sounding stupid. Even the most experienced attorneys stutter, misspeak, make bad arguments, etc.
Know your briefing backwards and forwards so you don’t need to reference your outline/cheat sheet very much.
You don’t need to address every single argument you made or that the opposing side makes. Stick with the strongest points, the most salient points, or the substantive points you think the judge needs clarification on. Also, if there’s a tentative that went in your favor, don’t be afraid to paraphrase and parrot it back.
Know your facts and law inside and out bc the other side will always manipulate them to fit their agenda.
I’m a first year and my hearings have all been zoom / call in so far, but I make a one page cheat sheet of key dates and facts. Even though I know my matters, if I freeze up I like to be able to reference my notes.
I’m plaintiff so I usually have to describe service efforts etc, so it helps me to have dates when defendants were served and when we submitted proofs, etc to the court. One county is very slow at processing some docs, so I’ve been asked by a judge where something is and I could say we filed it on X date and it is still being processed. Having those dates on my cheat sheet really helped me out.
Good luck!
Also, if you have time and depending on the courts, some have livestream broadcasts of various hearings. Before I started going to some of my routine (virtual) hearings, I would listen in to the judges I would be before and I could get an idea of what kinds of questions they asked and their personalities. Also, hearing other attorneys say they didn’t know the answer to something and listening to how they handled the various scenarios helped calm my nerves a lot!
If it’s a cattle call, just find another attorney who looks like they know what they’re doing, introduce yourself, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. When I go to criminal cattle call in counties I don’t normally practice in I just find the group of public defenders, introduce myself and ask them all of my questions.
Sometimes the most stressful part is finding parking. Go early. Get settled. Breathe. Eat something. Then go kick butt! Oh, and don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. The front desk/court staff are your best friends!
I just wanted to update everyone on this I WON!!! I got my entire case dismissed with prejudice!! Thanks for all of your advice!
Good luck!