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I naively asked a lawyer what his win rate was when I was seven. He explained, fairly patiently, that that was an exceptionally poor metric to judge lawyers by
by patio11 12y ago
I naively asked a lawyer what his win rate was when I was seven. He explained, fairly patiently, that that was an exceptionally poor metric to judge lawyers by. "Few disputes end up in court. Most are settled out of court, with trials meaning a negotiation broke down or one thought one had a slight edge. If they have a major edge, you beg for a settlement. If you do, typically their lawyer will.
If you never lose a case it's because you are being insufficiently aggressive on behalf of clients with strong-but-not-unbeatable claims and are disposing of them pre-trial to the detriment of the client. A lawyer who would do that is a poor lawyer regardless of the stats."
- rwallace 12y agoMaybe so. On the other hand, a lawyer who loses too many cases is likely being too aggressive on behalf of clients with poor claims, to the detriment of the client, the other party and society in general.
- achamayou 12y agoA lot like code coverage. A good rate doesn't mean you're doing great, but a poor rate is a good indicator that you have a problem.