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“Just answer the question” is standard deposition advice. But is that always the best advice? And can people actually follow it?

If every customer list was a trade secret, that would impose a de facto non-compete on every sales person. But not every customer list is a trade secret.

What real lessons can we learn from those “most successful people I’ve met” memes and tweets?

Five key issues in departing employee litigation in five minutes. From a Texas perspective.

Let’s set aside the politics of the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings for five minutes (as if that were possible). What can litigators learn about effective cross-examination from Senator Kamala Harris’s grilling of Judge Brett Kavanaugh about a possible discussion of the Mueller investigation with a law firm that represents Donald Trump? The reviews of Harris’s performance were all over the map. Some gushed over the former prosecutor’s toughness and cross-examination prowess. Others, especially fellow litigators, scoffed like she was an amateur. (I imagine the latter is similar to the way jealous stand-up comedians review each other.) And strangely […]

Get the Study Guide for Essentials of Texas Non-Compete Litigation here!

Specialization has benefits. A lawyer who repeatedly handles the same type of case will tend to become an expert in that type of case, understanding the nuances, tricks, unanswered questions, and grey areas. See Do I Need a Specialist to Handle My Texas Non-Compete Case? But becoming an expert on an area of law can have a less obvious downside: the tendency to forget that things that are self-evident to you may not be so obvious to a client. For example, if you’re a plaintiff’s personal-injury lawyer, it’s pretty obvious that a person who claims he suffered a debilitating injury […]

You’ve all read those “habits of successful people” and “best morning routine” articles. Is this just another one of those? Well, yes. But it’s a little different. That’s because my morning routine doesn’t follow the conventional scripts. You already know the basic types. First there’s the “Crunchy” kind: get a full night’s sleep, wake to the sound of birds chirping, practice “mindfulness” for 20 minutes, then do some yoga and meditation, drink green tea, and eat an egg-white omelette made with local asparagus and eggs from cage-free free-range chickens. Eventually get to the office at 11:00 am. That’s not for […]

If Apple sues Xpeng Motors for misappropriation of trade secrets, the opening statements may look like this . . .

So many litigators describe themselves as “aggressive.” But do aggressive lawyers actually get better results for clients?