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The Mississippi Lawyer Summer 2015 15 An Interview with Chief Justice William L. Waller Jr. good. There would not be many of my cases that attorneys want to cite to but I think being able to recall the justices names and being able to recall their opin- ions has persuasive effect. If an attorney is relying on a Justice Randolph opinion and a Justice Dickinson opinion the attorney needs to read those decisions very carefully. Those justices are likely going to be asking questions about those opinions. By referring to the justice who authored the opinion you show that you know the decisions you know who wrote them you know what the precedent is you know what the facts are and you know how to distinguish those cases. That would give somebody a little edge if they could figure out how to do that. I just thought of something else that is a big mistake that attorneys make during oral argument. This is really troublesome to me. When they get to oral argument they start citing cases that are not in their briefs. It seems like it happens more in criminal cases than civil cases though that is not to say it does not happen in civil cases. Here we read the briefs and we read the cases. Going back to my golden rule it is not good when attorneys are citing cases that we have not seen. I realize that when someone writes a brief it is not unusual that it is six months later when they are preparing for oral argu- ment. They may be looking at it the day before. If there is a new case we want to see it. All you have to do is supplement even if it is the day before argument or the morning before argument. But often it is not a new case. It is a case that they should have had to start with. That really goes to credibility more than anything. This attorney really has not done his or her due diligence and looked at the facts of this case and the law. VLL What is the best use of rebuttal time in oral argument WLW We probably have better rebuttal than we have direct. But I think that when an attorney comes up for rebuttal what is really effective is to say Your Honor my counsel opposite covered three points. Im going to cover the third point first and work backwards. The interesting thing about that is more than likely if counsel opposite did list his or her points one two and three then num- ber one was his most important point. If you start distinguishing point number three you can do that better than you can distinguish point number one. It is a good way to tear down the other attor- neys argument. And the judges have just thought about point number three. Instead of Your Honor I want you to lis- ten to my point you should actually use rebuttal to respond to counsel opposites points three two and then one. VLL Thank you Chief Justice Waller. That concludes our interview. I MEDLEY BROWN LLC F I N A N C I A L A D V I S O R S Medley Brown POINTS OF DISTINCTION Focused A singular long-term value-driven investment philosophy Rational Thoughtful investment selection Responsive Exceptional client service Committed Our money invested alongside yours Proven History of investment performance Call us at 601-982-4123 www.medleybrown.com