Miles B. Cooper

Collecting damages when the defendant is underinsured The lawyer sat with the client. Almost every case is tragic. This one was doubly so. The client not only suffered serious injuries, he then found out the elderly defendant maintained very little insurance. Since the client did not own a car or maintain a non-owner operator auto policy, he did not have...

Cramming down the demons that drive us differs from confronting them There was a person who was married with two lovely children. The person was a successful professional, and a functional alcoholic. That worked, until it didn’t. The person’s spouse loved that alcoholic very much, and tried everything to help right the ship. But only the alcoholic had the power...

Preparing and using the special verdict form in trial “Judge, we need to meet again about the verdict form” said one of the lawyers. The special verdict was thirteen pages long and as user-friendly as an IRS form – and not the 1040-EZ. Unfortunately, it contained a directional error. A function of last-minute rulings on a case with multiple issues....

Clearing out that which accumulates in a law practice “And schedule an LBJ day for me after this trial please – my office is getting out of control. Without a block of time, I won’t deal with it, and it will just get worse.” The lawyer was checking in with the office manager. “A what?” the office manager asked. “Lady...

Maintaining the personal touch in personal injury through regular client contact “And John Doe called. He said it had been a while since he had checked in and wanted an update.” The lawyer and legal assistant were doing the daily review. “Let’s pull up the calendar … wow. With this week’s depo schedule it is going to be hard to...

Mini-openings, neutral statements, and overselling in the name of primacy The defense counsel insisted. The neutral statement, in the defendants’ contentions section, must say defendants contend plaintiff waived his right to bring a lawsuit by signing a contractual waiver. After much argument, the phrase stayed in. The contention, a primacy effort, came back to haunt the defense during jury selection....

The initial contact with a potential client sets the tone The lawyer’s phone buzzed – it was a text from the office. “Good potential case call just now – please check email.” The lawyer pulled up the email. It contained a short summary of the incident and a police report. The lawyer happened to be near the town where the...

A handy “how to” for effective use of jury questionnaires. Details, details… The lawyer thought about the case. Gay marriage. Chronic opioid use. A waiver. And an impending trial in a conservative county. A few hurdles there. Why try it? Because what the defendants had done was awful, because they weren’t offering anything significant, and because it was the right...

Lessons learned from a case with personal impact “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine I guess.” To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960, HarperCollins Publishers, p. 87. For many lawyers, Atticus Finch epitomizes what we would like to be. An individual...

Life lessons in the law following a life lost It was a crisp fall day, the great window in the gathering space framing skeletal trees outside. I sat in the audience, listening to the memorial service. People got up and told stories about the man who had passed, and the man’s contributions to the community. That community included family, friends,...