Around the water cooler — Q & A with Ethan Trull

Each week we will pose these three questions to different lawyers in the legal community.

This week we talk with Ethan Trull, a litigation partner at Ungaretti & Harris who has been practicing for 19 years. His practice is mostly commercial litigation with an emphasis on securities, antitrust, products liability, and intellectual property litigation.

– What do you find most interesting about your practice?

Especially in litigation, technological change is a constant element. For example, remarkable advances in medical science have simultaneously resulted in brand-new causes of action, brand-new defenses and brand-new methods of proving both.

Similarly, the development of mass electronic storage of data revolutionized business, but now exists as one of the easiest litigation pitfalls for the unwary business (or its counsel who fails to give suitable advice on electronic data preservation and production). As technology becomes more advanced, affordable, and pervasive, legal professionals necessarily also have to become even more technologically proficient. Maintaining technical expertise in areas that affect my clients’ business is one of the most interesting and challenging aspects of my practice.

– What makes a good lawyer?

We’ve all worked with lawyers whom we consider to be “good,” and our positive assessment can spring from any number of quality traits. For example, many lawyers are good because they are exceptionally quick on their feet. Others seem to write effortlessly. Some lawyers have sufficient charisma to charm even the most jaded jurors and clients. Perhaps a tougher question is how to predict which lawyers may possess any of these good qualities.

Many employers heavily rely on academic credentials as their primary predictive tool, whether they are seeking in-house counsel or a prospective legal partner. Unfortunately, the same qualities that guarantee academic success do not always translate into real world ability. The better answer, I think, is to expect future success based upon practical track history and positive outcomes. In other words, in the practice of law, experience still matters.

– What is the biggest legal news, and what is its impact?

There is so much legal news nearly every day that it is nearly impossible to point to one or two things. Obviously the trend toward nationalizing firms continues which impacted, and in fact reinforces, my decision to rejoin private practice in one of the very few truly mid-sized firms left in the city. I read last week that in England an investor group has actually purchased a law firm and, in essence took it public.

I can’t imagine that happening here, but then again I never thought that a lawyer could get away with charging $1,000 per hour (and I suspect that in fact they won’t get away with it). It used to be the rare firm that had office outside of the United States. Now apparently every firm needs an office in Prague. Is that really what we need?