000417	06whyte_wmp_a_16.wma
000000	MARK SMITH:  So what three pieces of advice would you give to a young IP attorney?
000008	JUDGE WHYTE:  Number one, I would recommend that you be thoroughly prepared, which of course, is what you probably hear all the time.
000017	But you should be prepared to help the judge reason through a problem.
000023	Judges, particularly on law and motion, for example, don't want to hear a speech or any prepared argument.
000032	What they want is somebody that can help them reason through an issue and come to a conclusion.
000037	So that's what you should expect and be prepared for.
000043	Number two, and I mentioned this earlier, you need to make sure that you understand the judge's level or the jury's level of understanding of the technology.
000058	And if you can try out your argument or your presentation to someone who is non-technical and see if they understand what you're doing,
000111	I think that's a good way to test whether you're properly prepared to present it to the court.
000119	And also I think it's important that you focus your case and just make the arguments, or focus on the arguments that you feel are strong.
000129	I think you can weaken a strong argument by following it with a weak argument.
000135	This, I think, requires you to have client control in the sense that you've got to be willing to tell a client, this is not an argument that we should be pushing, 
000147	or this is not something we should be doing because it's going to weaken our position in front of the court.
000153	And you also have to realize that if you uncover or turn over every stone in front of the court, again, you're going to lose your -- how do I want to say this.
000208	I guess you're going to present so many arguments, some of which won't be that good if the court, again -- and I've said before -- is going to lose its focus on your good arguments.
000226	MARK SMITH:  So, along with that, preparing for these huge cases that come on, do you have any specific ideas or recommendations on how to effectively prepare and argue in your court?
000242	JUDGE WHYTE:  Really, beyond what I've said, I think, again, that presenting the case to someone who is not technically trained and seeing if they absorb it is very important.
000257	I think, to follow up a little bit on that, more and more we're finding patent lawyers or IP lawyers that have technical backgrounds, 
000305	and if you have a technical background you may think you've reduced something to a really simple presentation, 
000314	but yet it assumes some things that someone who isn't trained in that technology isn't going to understand.
000322	So I think you've got to be very careful about the lingo or language you use.
000327	I mean, every profession, lawyers, for example, talking legalese or lawyer language, a lot of technical terms mean nothing to someone, but once they're explained it's pretty simple.
000345	So I think that's what you've got to really focus on.
000351	And that's why, if you're not technically trained, I still think there's a place for you in technical -- being a patent lawyer in some technical field.