The unsettling truth about settling

AuthorThe Honourable Joseph W. Quinn
Pages183-187
183
g Winter 2016
e unselin uh abu elin:
PART ONE
THE HONOURABLE JOSEPH . QUINN*
OVERTURE
How do you become a talented trial lawyer? You become a
good golfer by playing golf regularly. You become a procient
pianist by playing the piano frequently. You become a skilled
skier by skiing often. You become …
If you tell me that you know where I am going with this, I will cease
using these annoying alliterative references. Experientia docet [experience
teaches].1
SO, YOU SETTL E ALL YOUR CASES
Do you settle all your cases? Why? Is it because you have had a for-
tuitous run of excellent pre-trial and settlement conferences? Really?
Is it because opposing counsel consistently have been reasonable and
obliging? Lucky you. Is it because you have a fear of, or at least an anxiety
toward, trials? Oops. Have I touched a nerve?
* This article was prepared for Conduct of the Family Law Trial, a program jointly
sponsored by The Advocates’ Society and the Law Society of Upper Canada in
Toronto on October 28, 2016.
1 Tacitus, Histories, Book 5, chapter 6.

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