THE SILVER-TONGUED DEVIL AT THE BAR

There was a small article in The Wall Street Journal recently about John Desmarais  a patent litigator at Kirkland & Ellis, an international law firm. It seems that Desmarais keeps winning unwinable cases for his clients. His peers say that his success comes from his ability to simplify complex technical concepts for a jury.  Mr. Desmarais, whose undergraduate degree in chemical engineering helps him, he says, better understand the technical aspects of each case.

            This brings to mind a discussion I had with the head of a law firm client’s litigation group. I was editing the group’s page for the firm web site. The litigator wanted to talk about how articulate the firm’s litigators were in court.

            “In other words,” I said, “all good litigators are silver-tongued devils, and we’re just more silver-tongued than the others.”

            “Something like that,” he replied.

            “Nope,” sez I. “You can’t say that. First, it’s a claim you can’t prove. Second, the Canons of Ethics won’t let you. And if they did let you,  how does that distinguish you from other litigators?”

            “Why then do we win so many more than we lose?” he asked.

            “Because we are so meticulous in our preparation, and that’s where most cases are won,” I said. “And we can say that, because it’s true.”  And that, I’ll bet, is how Desmarais wins his cases.

            And so we did.

            There are a few lessons here. One is that so many lawyers have not yet learned to think like marketers, which is why they need professional marketers who do think like that.

            And second, most people, including lawyers, don’t always understand the source of their talent. It’s easy for Mr. Desmarais to say his success is built on his ability to simply for juries. But first, he has to simplify for himself – and that’s preparation.