The unsettling truth about settling

• Author: The Honourable Joseph W. Quinn
• Pages: 183-187

183

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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 SETTLE 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.