"When you go into the end zone, act like you've been there before."
- Vince Lombardi
I often have people ask me why I don't go on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or other social media platforms to brag about every win I have in court. They talk about other attorneys in the area who are doing dances, making memes, and trying to optimize every win.
Similarly, I often sit in seminars where other attorneys spend large amounts of time talking about how great they are, I go ahead and check their firm's website to see their actual experience. Often, I realize that while they are celebrated, they have a lot less experience than me.
I simply respond to them that I learned from my father: "act like you've been there before." This (and the lack of cell phones at the time) are probably the reason you've never seen me on SportsCenter for my high school athletic exploits.
I also am usually moving on. When one case is done, I move on to the next client and the next case. I do not have time to dance around and make TikTok videos or dumb memes. While I don't knock lawyers who di it, it's not my thing.
I'm a middle-aged white guy. Despite what I have seen online and what other middle-aged white guy lawyers do, no one wants to see it - and especially not my wife or kids.
Besides, I have the receipts.
The other day, I was on WestLaw and asked it to look up my appellate case history. I did not do this out of vanity, but because one of the appellate courts asked me to take cases and wanted to know my full appellate history. Between state and federal courts, as well as amicus curiae briefs, I had done well over one-hundred cases. This only counts the cases where I was named as counsel of record and not cases where I wrote or advised on the ultimate brief.
I also looked at the list of file folders of past cases. I realized the hundreds of cases I have handled since entering private practice in 2010. This does not count the thousands of cases I handled as a prosecutor and Assistant Attorney General. In many of those cases, especially the police and grand jury investigations that did not result in criminal charges, my clients want it kept quiet. They do not need to see me dancing to the soundtrack of "Pretty Woman" while I'm discussing how I made their prostitution case quietly go away.
I often have to be reminded of the successes because I do not have a scoreboard. I get great results for clients, but given the number of cases we handle each year, it is sometimes hard to keep track.
So please excuse me ....
So please excuse me if I'm not dancing in TikToks or coming up with cute stories on Instagram after I win. If you want an attorney who will brag on social media about your case or somehow manage to make the facts of your case match some new music or trending hashtag, it's not me.
I'm too busy moving on to the next case -- and I think my clients prefer that I do so.