James Lipton Quotes

A lawyer should have her facts straight.

A Seattle lawyer once interrupted his lengthy cross-examination of a witness and exclaimed, "Your Honor, one of the jurors is asleep." "You put him to sleep," replied the judge. "Suppose you wake him up."

I'm an old trial lawyer.

When you're thrust into litigation, you obviously have to make sure you're prepared to deal with that.

I played a lawyer once, and I had about three or four weeks before we shot, so I was able to go to court and watch lawyers at work. Some were good lawyers and some were bad lawyers, but it was essential. The more time you have to prepare, the better. Always.

Lawyers know that certain witnesses are simply not going to be cooperative and are not going to answer the questions. And what matters at that point is what is your question? Because everything you want the jury to know should be in your question, or everything you want the jury to wonder about should be in your question.

A defendant can use discovery to run out the clock on the plaintiff and to make the plaintiff run out of money.

Never, never, never on cross-examination ask a witness a question you don't already know the answer to, was a tenet I absorbed with my baby food. Do it, and you'll often get an answer you don't want.

The judge turned his back towards me, sitting back on his judge's chair, while I was in the witness stand being questioned. The whole courtroom was full of these anarchists, leftists, communists and Jewish lobbyists.

You see, some lawyers have the talent, have the charisma, but no discipline. They come into court unprepared, without having done their research.

I view myself primarily as a trial lawyer who happens to be writing, as opposed to a writer who happens to be a trial lawyer, so the audience is like a jury to me.

And I've always felt comfortable certainly in a courtroom because you're just performing. And there was a time in my life when I thought when I grew up I'd be a trial lawyer myself.

I think the lawyers are such incredible actors. Can you imagine the performance they have to do every day?

It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all.

Criminal cases require strategy, and prosecutors should attempt to prove only what can be proved.

The long, forensic interview really matters.

Some people are making such thorough preparation for rainy days that they aren't enjoying today's sunshine.

One of the local reporters assured me Garrison would put in an appearance for the cross-examination, but as the courtroom settled down and the rear doors were closed, there was no sign of him.

As a youngster, my mother and father always drilled into my head having something to fall back on. My father was kind of funny. I'd score 40 points. I'd come home and say, 'Look dad, I scored 40.' He'd never have a smile on his face. He'd be like, 'I saw that move you did. What if you'd hurt your knee?'

In the courtroom, it's where a lawyer really becomes an actor. There's a very fine line between delivering a monologue in a play and delivering a monologue to a jury. I've always felt that way - I've been in a lot of courtrooms. The best lawyers are really theatrical.

Sir, I did not create a monopoly. Nor did I cheat anyone. I simply had the foresight to bid low and take a loss the first couple of years, with a long view in mind. The only thing I am guilty of is running a successful company.

Being a trial lawyer sounds like glamorous work, but most of your time is spent pushing paper and arguing.

Most lawyers aren't trial lawyers. Most lawyers, even trial lawyers, don't get their problems solved in a courtroom. We like to go to court. It seems heroic to go to court. We think we're the new, great advocates, better than anything we've seen on TV, and we come home exhilarated by having gone to court.

It's totally different playing a lawyer and a detective.

I know O.J. better than anyone on the legal team. There are so many things I know about his personality. My job is really strategy and liaison between the lawyers and O.J.