Attorney General John Edwards [View All]

A story from 2003 about Edwards and his pre-politics legal career has always stuck with me.

I used to be a litigation paralegal specializing in "trial technology," i.e. attorneys would give me all the trial evidence (documents/depositions/etc.) for me to digitize and prepare for presentation to a jury.

I'd then go into a courtroom in Suffolk Superior, Middlesex Superior, the old McCormack Federal courthouse building and later the new Federal courthouse on the waterfront, and wire the room up with five monitors (plaintiff table, defense table, witness box, jury box and judge's bench), speakers, etc., for the display of said evidence.

The whole case to be put on by the attorney I was working for would be on my laptop, which would be wired into the monitors and speakers in the courtroom, and I'd sit third-chair during the whole trial and present the evidence for witness examinations, cross-examinations, opening and closing statements. I probably worked 40 trials in this fashion while I worked this gig.

EVERY lawyer I worked for would take a zillion depositions of potential witnesses and/or anyone remotely involved. A deposition, for anyone unfamiliar with the term, is when an attorney sits down with a witness and questions them on the record regarding the case at hand. A court reporter is present and takes down every word spoken on the record, after which the full deposition transcript is copied to every attorney on both sides.

Basically, depositions are done so lawyers can make sure they know everything about the case beforehand...but it also means the other side also knows everything and can prepare accordingly, and it means the judge knows everything because his/her clerk also got a copy of the depo transcript. The only people in the room during a civil trial who don't know everything already are the jury members.

This is standard practice...but not for Edwards.

He never took depositions of opposing witnesses. Ever. He didn't want to tip his hand to opposing counsel, didn't want to let them know what he was planning to say/do/attack regarding the case. Instead, Edwards would get those opposing witnesses into the box and grill them on the fly, taking whatever he got from them and working with it on the spot. Whatever the witness would come out with, he was able to handle it right there and then, off the top of his head. He'd craft follow-up questions, run down new information, and basically handle the interrogation without a parachute.

As a former litigation paralegal, I find that to be incredibly impressive. It means Edwards has amazing immediate-and-total-data-recall abilities, and can think on his feet at light speed. I've never personally seen nor even heard of a trial attorney who works this way, and it kinda blows my mind due to my experiences with the voluminous amount of documentation/data involved in the civil trials I've worked.

Long story short: Edwards for AG.

He's one hell of a lawyer, folks.