One of the more honest things a trial lawyer can say about their work rarely makes it into a law firm brochure: no personal injury or medical malpractice case is perfect. Every case has a gap in the record, a fact that is hard to explain, or a detail an opposing attorney will try to use. What separates a strong result from a difficult one is often not the facts themselves, but when an attorney finds them and how they handle them.
Key Takeaways
No personal injury or medical malpractice case is entirely free of challenges or weak points.
- Trial lawyers who identify a case’s weaknesses early are better positioned to prepare a credible, well-supported argument.
- Open communication between a client and their attorney about difficult facts helps prevent surprises later in litigation.
- A prepared trial lawyer can sometimes turn a case’s weakest point into one of its strongest pieces of evidence.
Is Any Personal Injury Case Ever Perfect?
No personal injury or medical malpractice case is ever entirely free of weak points. It would be easy to market a law firm around the idea that every case it takes is a sure thing, but trial lawyers who have handled many serious cases know better.
It could be an inconsistent witness statement, a gap in a record, or a fact that does not fit neatly into the story. Pretending otherwise does not protect a client; it only delays the moment they find out.
Years in a courtroom tend to produce a different instinct: assume every case has a weakness, and go looking for it before anyone else does.
Embracing a Weakness Before the Jury Does
The danger a trial lawyer works hardest to avoid is not weak facts. It is timing.
Pablo Sosa, a partner at Washor Kool Sosa Maiorana & Schwartz, LLP, describes it plainly: “Every case has strengths and weaknesses. And if you’re a good trial lawyer, you learn that you have to embrace your weakness.”
That only works when a client has been upfront. In his words, “the worst possible scenario is when you find out about a weakness in a case at the same time that the jury is finding out about it.” He calls that the death knell of a case.
Sequencing matters that much. A problem fact learned early, from a client, a record, or discovery, leaves time to frame it honestly and present it on our own terms. The same fact learned mid-trial does not.
Matthew Maiorana, a partner at the firm, describes the same problem from the client’s side: the fact that a client
New York’s disclosure rules exist to prevent that kind of ambush. Full disclosure of all matter material and necessary to a case is required under CPLR 3101, and a court may impose penalties when a party willfully fails to produce what should have been disclosed, under CPLR 3126.
Can a Weakness Become the Strongest Part of a Case?
Sometimes it can, and the clearest example we know of came out of an early trial in the Bronx. Our firm represented an adolescent girl who had been a ward of a foster care home, on a claim that the home failed to provide and monitor the care it owed her. The home was asked for her complete medical chart in discovery, the pretrial stage where both sides must hand over the records and testimony on which a case turns, and nothing was produced.
The chart appeared mid-trial, handed over just as our attorney was about to cross-examine the home’s director. A colleague in the courtroom urged him to move to preclude it. He read it instead.
The page captioned for medical visits and treatments was blank. Not one visit and not one treatment had been recorded on the home’s own repository for that care. That blank page became the centerpiece of the cross-examination, and what could have been a discovery fight became the clearest proof in the case.
The trial ended in a plaintiff’s verdict. Results may vary. Prior case outcomes do not guarantee similar results.
Trial work sometimes rewards the lawyer who pauses to look for the opportunity in a difficult moment rather than reacting reflexively.
FAQs: Every Case Has Strengths and Weaknesses
Here are answers to a few common questions about how trial lawyers evaluate the challenges in a case.
Why Do Trial Lawyers Look for Weaknesses in Their Own Case?
Finding a weakness before the opposing side does gives an attorney time to prepare an honest, credible response. That preparation may also determine whether a jury continues to trust the rest of the case once a difficult fact comes up.
Does a Weakness Mean a Case Should Not Be Pursued?
Almost every case has some weak point, and the presence of one does not automatically undermine a claim. That is particularly true when the core facts of negligence and injury are well supported by evidence.
How Can a Client Help Prepare for a Case’s Weaknesses?
The most useful thing a client can do is be fully honest from the start, including about details that feel embarrassing or unhelpful. An attorney can only prepare for facts they actually know.
What Happens if a Weakness Is Not Found Until Trial?
A lawyer who learns of a difficult fact only after the defense raises it has lost the time needed to investigate or explain it, and there is little opportunity to respond once it has been presented in an unfavorable light. Finding weaknesses early leaves room for a straightforward, evidence-based answer.
Do Defense Attorneys Look for the Same Weaknesses?
Insurance carriers and defense attorneys review every case for inconsistencies, gaps, and unfavorable facts. That is exactly why plaintiff attorneys try to find those issues first.
Talk To A Trial Lawyer About Your Case’s Strengths and Weaknesses
If a difficult fact has you worried about your case, an honest conversation with a trial lawyer is the place to start. At Washor Kool Sosa Maiorana & Schwartz, LLP, we want to understand what happened and identify a case’s weaknesses long before trial.
Call us at (212) 406-1700 or reach out online to talk through your situation with one of our trial attorneys.