Judith A. Livingston, senior partner at Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore, was interviewed by Steve Cohen for his series speaking with accomplished lawyers titled, “What I Wish I Knew Then.”
Judith joined KDLM as an assistant to the office manager immediately after her graduation from Hofstra Law School. During the interview, she discusses the beginning of her career as a trial attorney and offers advice to young lawyers that she would give her younger self.
“I would suggest to any young lawyer who wants to be a trial lawyer: You have to be willing to take on the hardest of the hard cases. You have to be willing to fail. Because you learn so much from that.”
As a long-time trial lawyer, Judy offers the advice:
“Watching good lawyers is invaluable for anyone who wants to be a trial lawyer.”
It’s important to learn great skills from other lawyers, take those skills and adapt them to yourself – and stay yourself all the time.
She stresses the importance of continuing to learn about your case, and re-reading the records because cases are ever-evolving – what wasn’t important early, all of a sudden becomes important.
“A great, great lesson is: Never stop reading your file and reading your case because you’ll constantly learn more things…You can never know your case well enough.”
Judy offers more advice to today’s young lawyers and discusses her approach to voir dire in medical malpractice cases. Read the full Law.com article here.
Judith A. Livingston has won 35 trials with verdicts in excess of $1 million and has negotiated hundreds of settlements that have resulted in payments to her clients totaling almost half a billion dollars. She has been called “A Legal Legend” by Law Dragon and named one of “The 50 most influential women lawyers in America” by New York magazine. Judith A. Livingston was the first woman, and youngest person, to be admitted to the Inner Circle of Advocates, an invitation-only group limited to 100 of the best plaintiff lawyers in the United States.
Learn more about New York personal injury and medical malpractice attorney, Judith A. Livingston here.