Good to be a Lawyer

My roommate's dad, Bob Schuetze, has been plastered all over the local news lately. He was the winning attorney in the recent $11.1 million suit against Union Pacific Railroad. For a summary of the case, click here.

Another lawyer wrote a bunch of other colleagues about the trial and Schuetze. I thought some people might be interested in what he had to say. The email is below.

There he stood--alone--to the right of the podium next to his
client--without a note. From the first row I noticed that Bob did not
have a single document--not even an outline to fall back on. He was so
saturated with this case that it flowed out of him like you were sitting
in his living room.

Each one of us has stood there trying to sum it up--closing argument
has a certain mystique--like we can convince the doubters if we are
brilliant enough.

As young lawyers we have stood there--so self conscious, so
worried--consumed by ourselves as we cradled our notes.

Bob Schuetze is not a young lawyer.

He speaks with a quiet but crisp confidence--a dignified and decent
voice. There was no phony emotion or flamboyant rhetoric. He stood
firm like Harry Truman--plain spoken, sincere, logical and
reasonable--as he laid out the evidence on liability.

This was an extremely difficult case--three eyewitnesses testified that
his client stopped before the tracks (hence the train didn't need to
brake) and that her boyfriend pushed her onto the tracks (so the train
crew was stunned by a sudden emergency).

The entire defense was all-or-nothing on liability since the damages
were huge and convincingly presented. Bob presented the damages by
category--past medical expenses, future medical needs, lost earnings and
the life care plan in easily digestible pieces.

Bob proved, with the help of Caldwell at Ponderosa, that Ms Martin's
car stalled while on the tracks and that the train should have begun
braking as soon as her car was visible. The train had plenty of time to
stop if it had braked immediately and it wouldn't have mattered if the
boyfriend pushed the car. Bob masterfully pieced together the testimony
and diagrams that helped him so that we believed that the engineer had a
duty to apply the brakes rather than sound the horn.

One of Bob's themes was this: Union Pacific's conduct was reckless and
you need to send the only message that the Board of Directors
understand--money. He assured the jury that a large verdict--and it had
to be large because Ms Martin was so young--is the only way to bring
about change--especially since Union Pacific took "no exception" to
their engineer's conduct.

Bob also showed that this verdict would do wonders for Ms. Martin
personally--her parents could go back to being parents instead of care
givers, her medical needs would be met, her life care plan funded and
her earnings replaced.

The defense pounced on the boyfriends pushing the car; that the
engineer was a father and grandfather who has never behaved recklessly;
that her lurching onto the tracks was unexpected; and the "Mister
Schuetze" which he sneered a dozen times during closing--was
misrepresenting the evidence. "Shame on Mister Schuetze" he snarled as
I resisted the urge to puke. Mr. Napper lauded the day when juries could
listen to the injured and large corporations on equal terms and set
aside their sympathies, recognize the truth and do the difficult but
right thing in bringing back a defense verdict.

Bob's rebuttal struck directly, but succinctly at the heart of the
defense case. He calmly and analytically and believably put the case
back together on liability. He showed them a favorite defense diagram
and explained how it was inaccurate. It is defense who has falsified
evidence--he said it firmly--with confidence rather than anger.

Bob said, "There used to be an old saying...if you don't have the law
on your side--argue the facts. If you don't have the facts on your
side--argue the law. Well, if you don't have either on your side--then
I guess you attack the lawyer." He paused--a juror in the top row
smiled.

Bob was never Jessie Jackson as he worked to inspire the jury. Coming
down the home stretch, Truman gave way to Bobbie Kennedy--charismatic,
likeable, believable--as we came to understand that Ms Martin really
needed this verdict. Eleven million dollars would send the right
message to the railroad and bring a world of opportunity and hope to
this family.

After the closing, Bob and Missy walked arm and arm out of the
courtroom to wait for the verdict.

In the end, I am left with these thoughts about this win: dignity,
compassion, integrity and mastery of craft.

Bob Schuetze stands with the All-Timers.

Many people will only remember the $11.1 million verdict (which will be appealed), but I think something like this reinforces the idea that you don't have to be some asshole, type-A personality lawyer to be successful in this gig.