From Gerry Spence

"Winning is fun. One should not wonder that so many lawyers are unhappy in their profession facing, as many do, a lifetime of trudging down the road to defeat as they try, with all that they have, to win, and only lose.

Sometimes to set the mind in proper winning order, I have a conversationwith myself. The conversation begins with my listening to the wee omnipresent voice within. The voice tells me the truth. It tells me that I am all right. That I possess the power to win. The power does not come from my appearance. It does not come from tricks. It does not emerge from my acquiring a set of special techniques or from knowing the right people or being accepted in the right society.

The power comes from being genuine, from being who I am. The power comes from recognizing that I am unique--that in all of the universe there is no one exactly like me, and that if I present my case out of who I am, not who I pretend to be, out of my feelings, not my covered feelings, out of my fear, my caring, even out of confusion, not my pretenses at being a lawyer who looks good, I will win. I will not try to win, for merely trying to win is my agreement that losing is an alternative. Indeed, it is my agreement to lose.

Trying is to lose and excuse. A lawyer cannot adopt the winning mind-set in his case without caring about his case and his client. Belief in the case, in the cause of justice, and in the deep-belly stuff of putting his whole human agency into the war is the necessary mind-set. It is a place where the lawyer and the cause are bonded. I tell lawyers that we cannot expect a jury to care about our clients if we do not care about our clients. We cannot expect a judge to care unless by our presence, by the glow on our faces, by the tincture of the blood in our voices, by the raw flesh of our words, our commitment to the justice of our case is undeniable. Caring is contagious. Witnesses catch it. Judges cannot defend against it. Juries are helpless against it. Caring is horribly contagious. Perhaps some can feign it--but not for long."