Local Counsel and Second Chair Litigation Support

We provide litigation support to other attorneys preparing for trial, briefing, and appearing in court. Our involvement can be on a consultative basis, or as co-counsel of record. Depending on the scope of the assistance provided, the support can be structured on a flat-fee project basis or on an hourly basis.

For out of state counsel, we provide local counsel services in state and federal district court.

We offer trial preparation and help in several different ways and our price is commensurate with each level.  Here are the different services:

One on One Litigation Support

1. One-on-one trial skills work/consultation on a specific case or in general.  You pick the subjects (voir dire, cross, closing, working the case before in prep for trial, etc.).  This is unlike any trial school in that we come to you and work with you on any subject matter that you want to strengthen.  Also, if you have a specific case that you want to have a complete dry run with your entire trial prep and get feed-back, we offer that.

Sommer Spector Angstman has been doing trial work for over 13 years and has had over 52 jury trials, but has never found another attorney willing to take the time to sit through all of her trial prep (jury selection, opening, cross, direct, objections to expect, closing) and give the much needed feedback.  At best you will just find a trial school or two for a week long or two where you can bring your case to get feedback but also have to sit through others.  We offer an expedited process because we only focus on you and your case or the core skills on which you wish to focus.

We can also offer this in a group setting as well — for instance if you get a group together, we will conduct a training with all of you.  If you have several attorneys on the same case, we will work with you all on trial strategy and a dry run on any or all of your trial (voir dire, opening cross, direct, closing, objections to expect).

As a trial lawyers ourselves, we know this service is valuable because each case we take to trial is unique and getting feedback on our work every step of the way BEFORE we have to present the final product to a judge or jury is invaluable.

In other areas of life, we practice everything before we do it in real life.  We go through driver’s education before we get a driver’s license, surgeons practice on cadavers before performing surgery on living people, soldiers go through training before war.  Every profession practices key skills before they have someone’s life in their hands, EXCEPT lawyers.  We all know law school and bar preparation does nothing to prepare us for being a lawyer, and it does even less to prepare us for trial.   If we have a multimillion-dollar verdict or someone’s freedom teetering on our trial work, we want to practice all of our trial work before we actually go into trial.  Lawyers pay for jury consultants all the time.   But you could have the best jury in the world and still not win your case if you do not communicate effectively with them.  Our services give you a chance to practice and hone your message to the judge or jury, so that you present a polished final product when the time is right.

We can do this service for a flat fee or on an hourly basis.  Our goal is to give you instruction but at an affordable price.   We know that most newer attorneys are not rolling in the dough.

Complete 2nd Chair Co-Counsel

2. We also offer actual second chair services.  If you have a big case that is too big to try alone or if you have a jury trial but haven’t been in enough jury trials to feel comfortable, we can be hired to sit in as a second chair and help guide you through the process from the beginning to the end.

This can be for solely for advice and guidance, or if you wish we can take a greater role like preparing crosses, etc., and doing them in court. Again, a flat fee or hourly basis is possible depending upon the case.

Piecemeal as Needed

3. We can do any other services that you need regarding trial work in a piece by piece basis.  You want us to gather together some jurors and have a mock trial of your case before you actually go to trial, we can do that.   You want help creating a great closing argument and PowerPoint presentation for closing, we can do that.  You need help just brainstorming a case for trial and what to investigate or what motions to file?  We can help with that.   We are both experienced civil and criminal attorneys who have a lot of courtroom experience and we want to help others succeed in the courtroom.

To discuss how we may be of assistance to you, call us at (612) 206-3701 or contact us using our contact form below.