If you are a young person wanting to be a trail lawyer or if you or someone you know is going through a trial then the book The Smoking Gun written by Gerry Spence published by Scribner, NY, 2003 should be read. Gerry Spence is regarded as one of the US best trial lawyers, he has written other books, there are some youtube videos, and he is worth checking out. The case outlined in the book is one that took place in Oregon. A person was shot which was not good and on  the surface it looked like either a mother or her son shot the man. The prosecutors believed or wanted to believe the mother and son should be found guilty. Mr. Spence believed once you skim the surface, the facts were different – it was an accident and the wife of the man had shot her husband.  The book has many twists and turns to it, but what it shows is the relatively easy methods the state tried to find the lady and her son guilty. It starts with the state prosecutor having the resources and the goodwill of the taxpayer. It was aided by sloppy police procedures (one time 5 police cars were sent to the lady’s home – when asked by the defense how often does the police sent 5 cars for a relatively minor infraction. The answer of course was almost never – you can reach your own conclusion what the police were doing); aided by trying to hide information which was suppose to go to the defense. One of many examples is the polygraph test – the result was not what the state wanted. In the court they tried to say it was not that important, however the procedures of that DA in every other case was they relied on the polygraph. Somehow in this case, it was a useful tool not to be relied on and no report was to be found.

The more important aspect for going to trail is understanding what is in store for the participants. In many ways it is a mini-war (although one hopes that after the trail is over the lawyers can resume their normal civil relations). The two sides have a fundamental passionate belief their side is correct and wish to win; they also only have their credibility on the line – do they follow the correct procedures? do they tell the truth? Both crown and defense will bring witnesses to either say the person is good or you might wonder. For during the trial and likely after it lives will be changed. When the lawyers look back, there were many reason not to go forward, but perhaps broader or big picture issues were in the background. In the book, Mr. Spence offers hints of the amount of work ( for every hour in court, 10 hours of research); when to ask questions; and equally important when to keep your mouth shut.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, everyday in the markets people have views of stocks. Some look favorably to them, some the opposite view based on the same research. Only time will tell who is correct. Every large investor has some losers in their portfolio which they just were wrong. If you have no losers, you are not investing or are very lucky. Most people know at least one person who bought stock in their company and their company’s fortunes went south (it happens). The clues that something is wrong with your investments are magnified after it goes wrong; which is why for each of your investments you should know why you own the stock. If it is for dividends – will they be paid or are they expected to be paid next year? If no, move on to the next company.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.