How Can Staying Current With Legal Precedents Provide an Advantage?
LawyerExperts.net
How Can Staying Current With Legal Precedents Provide an Advantage?
In the dynamic field of law, staying abreast of the latest legal precedents can be a game-changer. We've gathered insights from five legal professionals, including Managing Partners and Immigration Attorneys. From matching the courts’ pace of societal change to strengthening cross-examination, explore the wide-ranging advantages of investing time into keeping up-to-date.
- Match Courts’ Pace of Change
- Foster Confidence in Mediation
- Learn from the Competition
- Strengthen Cross-Examination
- Advocate More Effectively
Match Courts’ Pace of Change
Courts are also matching their pace with changing societal norms and trends. Keeping updated with legal precedents helps a legal professional ensure that his advice or opinion is not based on a law or an interpretation that has been struck down or altered by a legal precedent. Likewise, being updated with the latest case laws guides a legal professional in devising legal strategies to be adopted in cases which they come across and may give them an advantage of being advanced and a first mover. Also, as law constitutes an important tenet of society, legal precedents overall make legal professionals aware of what is happening around, as well as at times being a witness to the changing trends.
Foster Confidence in Mediation
As a family law attorney who mediates divorce cases, clients at times ask how a situation would be handled in court by a judge. I stay up-to-date on case law not only for my practice but also because I am a law school professor teaching community property law. Being aware of the law and being able to explain how it applies to different scenarios presented by my clients enables me to be a more effective problem-solver in mediation. Couples have more confidence in my recommendations and analysis because I am proficient in the law and stay current on new decisions. I benefit from this because my clients achieve settlements as a result.
Learn from the Competition
The number one way to stay current on legal precedents is to subscribe to your competitors' newsletters and email lists—especially those of prominent practice-area leaders. They will keep you up-to-date on everything. Read them.
Strengthen Cross-Examination
Staying current with precedents and case law allows you to know the latest developments in Charter jurisprudence and constitutional issues, and also gives you an advantage in areas of cross-examination to strengthen arguments down the road. Taking time each day to stay current and read developing case law is also important because it allows you to quickly adapt. It reduces the likelihood of the other side surprising you with a case you are not prepared to address and increases the chance of you doing so to the other side, which in turn increases your chances of a successful outcome for your client.
Advocate More Effectively
Staying current with legal precedents can be crucial for the success of your client's case. For example, we represented clients before the immigration court in Arizona. The clients were persecuted by an authoritarian regime in their home country. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), an appellate body reviewing decisions of immigration judges, issued a precedent stating that imputed political opinion is a valid ground for asylum seekers in the US. I routinely review the latest legal precedents published by the BIA on their website, which helps me stay current and effectively advocate for our clients.
