Coopers' Code

1. Law firm operations
   1. Personal insurance concerns-[An ounce of protection]
   2. Successful lawyering requires many different skills [A lawyer for all seasons]
   3. Balancing thinking work with lawyering’s responsive requirements [That’s deep…]
   4. Clearing out that which accumulates in a law practice [Squared away]
   5. Marketing
      1. Managing your personal online presence [Perception is reality]
   6. Technology
      1. Using technology to maximize untethered productivity [Have laptop, will travel]
      2. Case management software [It’s all relative]
      3. Managing device interaction for a more productive (and more fulfilling) life [I am not my smartphone]
   7. Managing a firm with remote workers (in a pandemic) [Enough Stuart Smalley]
   8. Time away from the practice-illness, injury, and vacations [Sudden emergency]
   9. Leaving a firm for other opportunities [Ch-ch-ch changes]
   10. Working through fear loops, our profession’s centuries-old resilience, and suspending judgment [Going viral]
   11. Developing and using firm values to succeed [Value proposition]
   12. Reaching maximum potential with managed personal growth [Growth plan]
   13. Planning and executing an effective firm retreat [Retreat!]
   14. Small changes can make big impacts in shortening a case’s duration [Efficiency Unit]
   15. An introvert’s guide to surviving and thriving at industry events [Work the Room]
   16. Management for those of us who never knew we’d need to do it [Managing expectations]
   17. Building teams with the right people in the right seats [Building teams with the right people in the right seats]
   18. Conducting meaningful After-Action Reviews for constant improvement [As the dust settles]
   19. Collaboration, mentoring, and firm culture in various work environments [Office Space]
2. Writing
   1. Legal writing [Hemingway, not Faulkner]
   2. Crafting language for maximum effect [A brief word]
3. Decision-making
   1. Deciding how to make decisions, and what decisions to make [Decisions, decisions, decisions…]
   2. Making good decisions when group dynamics are in play [Sure footing]
   3. Applying Nobel Prize-winning decision-making theories to trial practice [Walking, fast and slow]
4. Addiction
   1. Alcohol and attorneys [I got 99 problems but a beer ain’t one]
   2. Cramming down the demons that drive us differs from confronting them [Pandora’s Box]
   3. Helping the addict in our midst take steps toward recovery [Asking for a friend]
5. The case benefits from active transportation [The people on the bus]
6. The different stages and ages we go through as we practice [The lion in winter]
7. Rapport-building in socially distant times [Strained relationships]
8. On finding and being a good mentor [Learner’s permit]
9. Effectively allying with female colleagues to foment change [Allied powers]

1. The initial contacts with a potential client set the tone [First impressions]
2. The duty to refer [Help! I need somebody]
3. Minor impact, soft tissue cases [MIST me]
4. How rational case decisions can lead to irrational outcomes [Rationally irrational]
5. Brainstorming cases and maintaining relationships [Lawyers who lunch]
6. Strategies for prosecuting the bicycle dooring case [When is a door not a door?]

1. Maintaining the personal touch in personal injury [I am the business…]
2. The lives that touch us [A death in the family]
3. Casual inquiries from friends and family [All in the family]
4. Case value-the difference between what they need versus what the case is worth [Deserve’s got nothing to do with it]
5. Social media [The tweet’s the thing…]
6. Considerations when representing multiple plaintiffs in the same case [Party bus]
7. Helping people with multiple incidents [One crash, two crash, red crash, blue crash]

1. The ins and outs of underinsured motorist coverage [A brush with death]
2. Pointers and pitfalls when a client has workers comp [Compensating for something]
3. Bad faith planning [Make them an offer they can refuse-in bad faith]
4. Lessons learned from the bad faith front lines [That’s not our policy]
5. Intentional acts, insurance/defendant friction, and creating collectability [Road Rage]

1. The importance of visiting the scene [The map is not the territory]
2. Using jury instructions for more than just instructing juries [I’ve got a CACI jones]
3. Track down all the incident reports and data to gain a better understanding of what happened [Reporting for duty]
4. Social media investigation in cycling and athletic incidents [Ride sharing]
5. Weeding through medical marijuana issues [It’s for my glaucoma]
6. Focus groups highlight case strengths and weaknesses [Don’t lose focus]
7. Evaluating bicycle product liability cases [Give me a break]
8. Examining common liability issues presented by e-bike cases [E-xhilerating]
9. Understanding and enforcing public records act requests [Let the sunshine in]

1. Traps for the unwary in government claim land [Not on the roster]
2. Road surfaces and notice against governmental entities [Pave the planet]

1. Settlement efforts before filing suit are worth the effort [Pre-party]
2. Successful time-limited pre-filing demands after C.C.P. § 999’s arrival [Demanding times]

1. Developing and drafting discovery before filing suit [Discovery Process]
2. The art of crafting a complaint [Complaint department]
3. Finding the right entities in a premises case [Naming rights]
4. Avoiding traps: central differences between federal and California state courts [Federated states]

1. Inexperienced opposing counsel require special consideration [Whippersnappers]

Reserved for future topics.

1. Planning exhibit use from the very beginning [The exhibit’s the thing…]
2. Answering discovery helps one gain greater appreciation of the case [Self-discovery]
3. Electronic discovery and metadata [The document speaks for itself]
4. Discovery disputes [Land wars in Asia]
5. Inadvertent disclosures and clawbacks [Read it and weep]
6. Admissions [Admit nothing: Practical and tactical use of requests for admissions]
7. Strategic uses for requests for production [Production line]
8. Depositions
   1. The strategy, art, and irritation inherent to deposition objections [Objection!]
   2. Taking person most knowledgeable depositions [The Know Nothing Party]
9. Using and responding to interrogatories [Interrogation room]
10. Major California civil procedure changes bring mandatory disclosures [Show me what you got]
11. Preparing for and executing the site inspection [Site specific inspection plan]

1. Putting yourself in your client’s shoes [I feel your pain]
2. Identifying and proving mild traumatic brain injury [Brain drain]
3. Identifying and proving wage loss without a W-2 [Wage war]
4. Household services [Help around the house]
5. Medical billing and ICD codes [The Code War]
6. Framing the case [A child’s eyes]
7. Cameo witnesses and their importance in describing the impact of an injury [Out of character]

1. Working with green experts [An expert is born]
2. Treating doctors [Treat them right]
3. Understanding bicycle experts’ evolution [Relax, I’m a professional]
4. Preparing for and attending the defense medical exam [Okay, now cough]
5. Preparing for the defense expert’s deposition [Publish and perish]
6. Helping your expert’s direct examination shine [Expert examination]
7. Challenges and techniques for brain injury cases with unhelmeted cyclists [Hardheaded]

1. Winning law and motion practice through focused communication [Motion to pass]
2. Opposing summary judgment helps ready a case for trial [Don’t throw me in the briar patch!]
3. Preparing for and delivering motion practice oral argument [Argue your position]

1. Strategic settlement [The Pincer Move]
2. Persuade the other side [Show and tell]
3. Collecting damages when the defendant is underinsured [An important asset]
4. Overcoming the inherent challenges when negotiating policy limit cases [Take it to the limit]
5. Mediation
   1. Right-timing is everything [Avoid the green ones]
   2. The right mediator makes the process go smoother [Pick a winner]
   3. Preparing a client for mediation [Settle in]
   4. Mediators need our help to settle cases successfully [Mediator, go work your magic]
   5. Making the best use of first-dance mediations [First Dance]
   6. Preparing for and mediating cases with multiple clients [Joint and several mediation]
6. Mandatory settlement conferences: Getting the most out of a Mandatory Settlement Conference [Settle up]
7. Helping clients find fiscal responsibility [Help them keep their settlement]
8. Shifting the driver-centric attitude in disputed liability bike and pedestrian cases [The road more traveled]
9. Evaluating, pursuing, and mediating personal contribution cases [Show me the money]

1. Lawyers lean and improve by watching trials [The Watcher]
2. Beware the compromise verdict [I dialed 911 a long time ago]
3. Be aware of current culture and sports [The Ministry of Culture]
4. Get the lay of the land well before trial [So this is what a courthouse looks like]
5. Witness order at trial [Order out of chaos]
6. Expedited jury trials for some cases [One day, one trial]
7. Expedited jury trials-tight time requires lots of planning [Chance favors the prepared]
8. Managing back to back trials [Under pressure]
9. The great learnings from jury service [Duty calls]
10. The best trial testimony comes from a prepared witness [The prepared witness]

1. Meet the staff who control the courtroom [Staff privileges]
2. Back up plans for back up plans [Department Zero Dark Thirty]
3. The effective second seat [Never a second’s hesitation]
4. Confidence and superstition [Very superstitious]
5. Mini-openings, neutral statements, and overselling in the name of primacy [Prime time]
6. Jury selection
   1. Who shows up? Jury summons yields and county polling [Selective Service]
   2. The mechanics of jury selection [Selection criteria]
   3. Effective use of jury questionnaires [Questionnaire questioner]
   4. An “on-shoulders-of-giants” primer on successful jury selection cause challenges [Entirely Impartial]
7. Teaching anatomy to the jury [Anatomically correct]
8. Handling sub rosa video [What the camera doesn’t show]
9. Evidence admissibility
   1. The business record exception [The price of admission]
10. Lay witness direct exams [Directing the direct when your witness is not an expert]
11. Cross examination
    1. Pressure, energy, breath, and brevity [The Cross Whisperer]
    2. Using visuals to improve cross-exam’s effectiveness [The right cross]
12. Using video depositions in lieu of live witnesses [Portions of this trial were previously recorded]
13. Settlement talks during trial [Settlement-It’s not over until the foreperson sings]
14. Preparing for and using the special verdict form in trial [The verdict]
15. Creating and delivering compelling opening statements [Opening up]
16. Talk to jurors post-verdict to learn, improve, and evaluate the verdict [Jury research]
17. Get the right equipment to present successfully [The show must go on]
18. Nuts, bolts, and strategic considerations for trial exhibits [Exhibiting behavior]

Reserved for future topics.

1. The trial lawyer and appellate lawyer’s delicate pas de deux [How appealing]

1. Where the funds go when resolving a minor’s claim requires due consideration [A minor compromise]
2. Concluding client representation at the end of a case [This is the end]
3. Evaluate healthcare liens at a case’s beginning, when you have the most leverage [Lien Times]
4. Making case closing an essential part of office hygiene [Boxing day]

1. Being grounded [The way of the Jedi lawyer]
2. Opening yourself to outcome [The Stoic]
3. Staying relevant [Who moved my typewriter]
4. Life lessons in the law following a life lost [The man comes around]
5. The future is not ours if we do nothing to safeguard it [Future shock]
6. Lessons learned from a case with personal impact [Personal jurisdiction]
7. Focus on the goal, not the obstacle, to achieve the desired outcome [Target acquired]
8. We contribute to our historic legal fabric by doing our best in all things [Do great things]