LARS  LIEBELER  PC

The Home Court Advantage

 

At times clients will ask,  “do you know the judge,” or “have you been in this court before in a case like this.” In thirty years I've argued before a lot of different judges, in a lot of different courts, in many different types of cases. But, more important is the fact that I use the same fundamentals wherever I go. That makes every court a “home court.”  

 

There is a great scene from the movie Hoosiers in which the small town high school basketball team from Hickory, Indiana first arrives at the cavernous Butler Fieldhouse for the state championship game. It is a few hours before the game against top-ranked South Bend Central High, and the Hickory boys have never seen an arena this large. Their jaws drop in awe.

To show the team that the court is just the same dimension as their gym in small town Hickory, fiery Coach Norman Dale asks one of his players to use a tape measure to measure the height of the basket and the length and width of the court. “Just the same as our gym in Hickory, isn’t it boys?”The court is indeed, just the same size as the court they grew up playing on. Guess who wins the state championship game?

 

No matter whether the argument is before the United States Supreme Court or the local planning commission, the fundamental principles of lawyering are the same. The judge, jury, or arbitrator wants to hear a well-prepared advocate present a logical, organized, powerful case in a clear and concise manner. Like the boys from Hickory High School, effective execution of the fundamentals will result in success, and will make every court our “home court.”

There's no substitute for experience . .  .

 

Lars Liebeler has represented Clients in every federal and state court in the Washington, D.C. area including the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the Federal Circuit, the Court of Federal Claims, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Virginia Supreme Court. He has experience in virtually every type of legal forum known to mankind: regulatory agency administrative law judge, grievance board, disciplinary proceeding, arbitration hearing, jury trial, bench trial, appellate courts, academic review panels, parole boards, and the European Commission and European Court of First Instance.