LEARN WITH A LAWYER - IN AN ADVERSARIAL SETTING, LET THE OTHER PARTY TALK FIRST.

This is some good advice I got from another lawyer. Anytime you are going to have some sort of adversarial meeting whether it is with a prosecutor in a criminal case or whether it is the opposing party on a civil case. Let that person talk first, and just listen. Let them talk about anything whether it’s the chief’s game that happened this weekend whether it’s their case. Anything that they can do to talk, just listen. What that’s going to do is alleviate some stress and it’s also going to wear them out. Let them tell you about all the bad points of your case, about how your client is so terrible. Let them ad nauseam go over and over and over it, by the time you open your mouth to talk they’ll be exhausted. They will have let all the wind go out of their sails, and they will be way more receptive to getting some sort of deal worked out or some sort of resolution that’s positive for your client worked out.