Zen Lawyer Seattle

10/18/2021

Latest posts from ZenLawerSeattle

Years ago I attended a Day With Paul Luvera where the great trial lawyer quoted Rudyard Kipling’s “Six Honest Serving Men” when discussing cross examination. From Paul Luvera these six question areas have served me well.

09/12/2021

Latest posts from ZenLawerSeattle

A successful personal injury lawyer must try the case when the insurance company is unreasonable Trial requires performance under stress. For performance at the highest level:

08/28/2021

Latest posts from ZenLawerSeattle

“The human energy system is an energetic webbing that permeates the entire body. It is the system that empowers the body and energizes and enlivens the mind, providing the energetic foundation upon which the body is built. It is the network through which all life energy flows.” Kilham, The Five ...

08/15/2021

Latest posts from ZenLawerSeattle

Aristotle in Poetics teaches the phenomena of tragedy and the elements of a tragic play. Applied to a personal injury case we must have a hero, who sustains adversity, does his best to overcome the adversity, but he will never fully overcome. Our client is the hero. The adversity is the injury. Trea...

07/24/2021

Latest posts from ZenLawerSeattle

Aristotle teaches tragedy is the imitation of action in life. Well-being (health) and ill-being (injury) “reside in action” with the goal of life being activity. “People achieve well-being or its opposite on the basis of how they fare.” Poetics (The Primacy of Plot). The “plot” in traged...

07/01/2021

New from the blog:

The second element of personal injury tragedy is adversity. The audience relates to a true to life, realistic, honest hero. In tragedy there must be adversity or harm to the hero. Without harm there is no reason to be concerned about our hero. The audience must see adversity and the hero overcoming....

06/18/2021

New from the blog:

Aristotle discusses the traits of the tragic hero. The hero does not need to be an award winner or have recognized accomplishments. The key is be true to life and realistic. There is a lack of pretense. The audience needs to see the hero as appropriate to his or her position in life. There is no exa...

06/01/2021

New from the blog: 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱𝘆

Having learned from Simon Rifkind all trials are plays, I sought a theatrical formula appealing to audiences over time that mirrors a personal injury case. I found Aristotle in Poetics sets forth what has become the classic formula for tragedy and it fits a personal injury case.

Plato and Aristotle argued about whether the study of tragedy is worthy of a philosopher’s time. Plato maintained all theater including tragedy is entertainment not rising to the level of philosophical interest. Aristotle disagreed.

Continue reading this article:
https://zenlawyerseattle.com/uncategorized/personal-injury-as-tragedy-2/

06/01/2021

Latest posts from ZenLawerSeattle

Having learned from Simon Rifkind all trials are plays, I sought a theatrical formula appealing to audiences over time that mirrors a personal injury case. I found Aristotle in Poetics sets forth what has become the classic formula for tragedy and it fits a personal injury case.

05/10/2021

New from the blog:
𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗳𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱

Interview With Simon H. Rifkind (Litigation Journal Sept. 1984).

Q. Judge there has been a great deal of criticism of the lack of ability of lawyers to try a case. Is this criticism valid?

A. Well, I have seen trials conducted with extraordinary skill, and great dramatic effect, in the best style that one could possibly imagine. I have also seen trials that were bumbling and poorly done. That’s always been true… . I’m not aware of any decline in the capacity of trial lawyers.

Q. What are the requirements of a successful trial lawyer?

A. It is essential a trial lawyer come into the courtroom knowing his case.

A, He must know the facts.

B, He must know what he is trying to establish.

C, must have a strategy and a program for achieving it.

To illustrate when I was a Federal District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York I would occasionally have a lawyer come up and say: “Does your Honor want an opening statement?”
Continue Reading this story:
https://zenlawyerseattle.com/thoughts-on-personal-injury-law/learning-from-simon-rifkind/

05/10/2021

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗳𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱

Beginning in law school law school I knew I wanted to be a trial lawyer. This meant studying trial lawyers. I started with Simon Rifkind. From Rifkind I learned trials are plays.

Simon Rifkind was a Wall Street lawyer and partner in the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind. He was appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, as Federal Judge, Southern District of New York

(1941-1950). He voluntarily left the federal bench because he was bored with poor lawyering which, according to Rifkind, was the rule rather than the exception. He returned to trying cases.

Continue Reading this story:
https://zenlawyerseattle.com/simon-rifkind-to-aristotle/lessons-from-simon-rifkind/

04/10/2021

Latest posts from ZenLawerSeattle

Beginning in law school law school I knew I wanted to be a trial lawyer. This meant studying trial lawyers. I started with Simon Rifkind. From Rifkind I learned trials are plays.