The State of Trial Law in America and the History of The Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) with Founder Steve Henry

Steve Henry, founder of The Litigation Counsel of America (LCA)https://www.litcounsel.org/ joins Brian Roberts(https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/) in the Attorney Lounge (https://linktr.ee/attorneylounge) to discuss his career and how and why he and his wife Dottie founded LCA in the early 2000s. Brian begins the show by remining Steve how he was able to cobble together a tuxedo together for the black tie dinner at the LCA event in Banff Canada last year by collecting various clothing items from different second hand stores in town. Steve discusses his upbringing on a farm outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and, as a first generation college graduate, he developed an interest in the law from watching Perry Mason on television. Steve shares that his tuition for the first semester of college at the University of Alabama was $255 in 1972. After Steve’s first year of college he decided to enroll in the Air Force as a means to help pay for college through the GI Bill and, while in the Air Force, he married his high school sweetheart, Dottie. After graduating college he attended Texas Tech law school where tuition was $190 per semester. A dedicated worker, Steve shared that he painted billboards while growing up in Alabama and worked as a waiter in law school. With the money he earned while working as a waiter while attending law school, together with income earned from an investment in a Texas oil well, Steve was able to graduate from law school with no debt and drive himself to the graduation ceremony in a red Mercedes convertible!

Steve had no interest in a desk job after graduating from law school and he loved the aesthetics of being a lawyer – the courtroom, the atmosphere, the judges and juries. And, as a result, Steve’s first job out of law school was as a prosecutor in Texas. Steve recounted his first jury trial where he was told to go to the courthouse and another assistant district attorney would be over in a little while to help handle the case, but the other attorney never showed up. Steve, the fearless young attorney, went ahead and struck the jury, tried the case and won! Upon returning to the office, the other attorney said he got busy and forgot about the case. Having won his first case and recognizing that he could handle himself in the courtroom, the district attorney’s office let Steve continue to try cases and he ended up trying roughly 40 cases in his first year out of law school. In 1983, Steve moved back to Alabama with the goal of providing a better lifestyle for his family where he practiced for the remainder of his career in private practice as a trial attorney.

Steve and Brian discuss the changes in the practice of trial law over the course of many decades moving from a process that would quickly go to court with the same attorney handling the filing of the case, discovery, trial and appeal to a process today that is significantly longer and highly specialized. Steve discussed the lack of characters that exist in the law today compared to several decades ago, including famous attorneys like Bobby Lee Cook who was an LCA Fellow and the inspiration for the main character in the Matlock television series. Steve also discussed the art of reading a jury, noting his belief that it is becoming a lost art. Steve mentioned former two-time LCA President, Thomas Mesereau, who represented Michael Jackson and other high profile celebrities, as someone who was brilliant at reading a jury. Steve talked about the changes in juries and the differences in relating to millennials who are serving on juries today with boomers and the ability of a good trial attorney to relate to both generations.

Steve shared his motivation for starting LCA when one of his female partners at Baker Donelson attempted to join an elite society of trial lawyers but was denied despite her skills as an elite attorney. When Steve shared this story with Dottie and, having three daughters of their own, Dottie recommended that Steve do something to rectify this injustice and start a society that prioritized and welcomed women and minorities. Dottie took the initiative on this effort and identified several attorneys that would make great members of this new society that they were founding, originally called The American Academy of Trial Counsel. After sending several invitations with acceptances from many notable lawyers across the country, the interest from other lawyers in joining this new society grew quickly. The dramatic rise in popularity of this new society soon drew the ire of an older, similarly named society who insisted they change their name to avoid confusion, which ultimately resulted in Steve and Dottie changing the name to Litigation Counsel of America. Given an ultimatum by his firm at the time to either choose to continue practicing at the firm or continue building LCA, Steve chose to focus his full-time attention to LCA where he continues to focus his efforts today.

Steve’s advice to young lawyers interested in trial practice is to volunteer to perform any task in a trial. Experience is the greatest tool to becoming a great trial attorney and Steve notes that the best trial attorneys are able to adapt under pressure, think on their feet, turn on a dime, and get past a moment that could otherwise kill their case. And the only way to develop these traits is to be comfortable in a trial setting, which comes from experience in the courtroom. Steve suggested that young lawyers simply sit in court and watch other cases, even if they are working on something else while there.

LCA is a terrific organization that is an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society that is limited to 3,500 Fellows, representing less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. The purpose of LCA, among other things, is to recognize deserving, experienced, and highly qualified lawyers, to provide an outlet for scholarly authorship of legal articles on trial and litigation practice and has established itself as the most diverse honorary professional society in American law.

Please visit the links below for more information about Steve, Brian, LCA and Array, who serves as the host sponsor of The Attorney Lounge.

Links:

Steve Henry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/g-steven-henry-066a1a11/

Brian Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeberts/

LCA: https://www.litcounsel.org/

Array: https://www.trustarray.com

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