Every so often, new lawyers ask me for advice on how they can best succeed in the legal profession. I usually give young lawyers a few strategies, including how they should work at a stable law firm, develop a specialty, and build connections that can help them originate business. When it comes to learning how to be more successful in a courtroom, I usually suggest that new lawyers listen to oral arguments, especially if they also have a case to be heard that day, so they can see how other practitioners advocate on behalf of their clients.
When I was an intern for a judge during a summer in law school, I had a front-row seat to some extremely interesting legal matters. I saw good advocates, bad advocates, and everything in between who all argued a multitude of different matters. One day, I noticed a young lawyer in the crowd in a nearly empty courtroom. I overheard the lawyer saying that he had a similar case to the one being tried and that he wanted to observe how other lawyers approach various legal issues related to the matter.
Initially, I wondered how this lawyer had so much time to attend court for observational purposes as well as handle all of his client files. However, on second thought, I reasoned that attending court like this lawyer did was a great use of his time. Law school and the bar exam do not teach lawyers many practical skills, but attending court can help young lawyers learn how the legal process works.
Shortly after taking the bar exam, I had a few months before I started my associate attorney gig at a Biglaw firm. Since I was not doing much, I figured I would go to court a few days a month and just observe the courtroom happenings. In some situations, it was difficult to understand the proceedings as I did not have the papers or context related to the issues that were being litigated. However, I observed various advocacy skills I also employed when I entered practice.
After I started practicing law, attending court simply to observe proceedings for educational purposes became much more difficult. However, whenever I had a court appearance, I would usually arrive in court early and observe the matters that were on the court’s docket before my own. In this way, I was able to continue observing advocacy tactics and learn about different areas of the law without making a dedicated trip to court.
Another reason why it is beneficial to appear in court early to observe proceedings is that it can give practitioners significant insight into the judge before whom they will be appearing. If a lawyer is able to see how judges treat lawyers, they can adopt their own methods to best appeal to the specific judge before whom they will be arguing. I know some lawyers who appear exactly when they are scheduled to argue a matter, and I always think that such lawyers would have been better served if they arrived a little early to observe the court and the judge who would be deciding a given matter.
In any case, observing court proceedings is a great way to acquire practical knowledge of the law. Even if attorneys do not have the time to make dedicated trips to court to observe hearings, they can still come to court early on their appearance and witness other practitioners in action.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.
