By Ed Marable
Advocacy Supervisor
Passaic County CASA
“Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” This well-known sports aphorism is correctly attributed to Henry Russell (“Red”) Sanders, a former football coach at UCLA. I have no reason to believe that Mr. Sanders was a lawyer, but that credo sure sounds like something that might be wholeheartedly endorsed by many of the lawyers I have known over the years.
As a general matter, a basic feature of the law is that it resolves conflicts; both present and anticipated. This simple truth translates inevitably into two polar opposites: winners and losers. At the end of the day (or of a trial), one party will feel vindicated while the other feels vanquished. The adversarial system just doesn’t lend itself to the concept of a “tie.”
Lawyers, in particular, seem easily lured by the notion of winning. Maybe it is the competitive nature of the profession. Perhaps, it is just an ego thing. I have to assume that winning often comes with better compensation, an enhanced reputation, and bragging rights amongst one’s colleagues. Invariably, lawyers want to win, if only for the dignity of their law school. And if your adversary attended the exact same law school, “Oh, it’s ON!”
Motivated by most of these considerations, I too felt obligated to win, early on in my legal career. And win I did. To this day, I can count how many trials I lost on one hand.
And then; one day, it hit me. I practiced law in the child welfare arena. All of my clients were minors. All of my clients had been dealt very bad hands, very early in their lives. There were no winners in these cases. There were only survivors. I needed to reorient my thinking in order to better serve my clients. After all, it wasn’t about me; it was about them. Having one more victory notch on my proverbial gun did absolutely nothing for the children I served.
After fully analyzing this paradigm of winning versus losing, I ultimately concluded that I would completely disabuse myself of both concepts. A radical thought perhaps, for a guy who “won” as much as I did. Instead, I decided that all of my energy and focus would be committed to doing the best job of advocacy I could on behalf of my minor clients. Almost immediately, a cloud was lifted. The fear of losing, in the traditional sense, was gone. The lure of winning had dissipated. Outcome be damned; I just wanted to do my best.
To the members of our CASA family, I know the lure of winning is certainly not limited to lawyers. As a CASA, you are called on to gather facts, present them objectively, and make concomitant recommendations. The fact that our charge is limited to advancing a child’s best interests, does not mean that we cannot become artificially invested in the positions we take. Stop worrying about the ultimate outcome of your case. Run from any urge to “win” the case. Don’t get dejected if things don’t go your way. It is not about you! Just do your absolute best at all times. If nothing else, you will sleep much better at night.