We are talking seconds for a trained pilot. However, going through checklists first might delay that action by minutes and going into direct law probably wasn't

We are talking seconds for a trained pilot. However, going through checklists first might delay that action by minutes and going into direct law probably wasn't on any of the checklists they had to run. Things happen really fast in aviation; You don't have much time, if any, to think in an emergency like the Hudson ditching. Captain Sully already had a lot of other decisions to make in a short amount of time. NB: Going into direct law would have more than just that one side-effect. I'm not an expert on Airbus (or any airliner) but everything you do in aviation is a tradeoff. If the pilot has most of their time in non-direct law, it might be that going into direct-law just to get rid of a single limit is the lesser choice. IMHO, Sully's comment is extremely valuable for training consideration and anyone else going through the same or similar scenario in the future.