Page 100 - ACTL Journal_Sum24

And then there is Matthew S. McNicholas, the third Fellow in the family firm1, whose legal emphasis is in the representa- tion of police officer and firefighters in employment actions against their departments.
in the trial. It was a good lesson in timing, as he soon figured out that he could get all of his good evidence in, if only he was patient and offered it after lunch.
Patrick counts many Fellows in the College as mentors and friends, including, of course, his dad. He recalls growing up with John sitting at the kitchen table every evening, prepar- ing for the next day in Court. John preached that preparation was the key to winning any case, and taught him you will win more than half of your cases when you are better prepared than your adversary.
When Patrick isn’t lawyering, you may find him surfing or playing guitar and singing with a small group. He also spends a lot of time with a charity called Urban Compass, which he co-founded with two friends in 2004, aiming to keep kids in Watts and South Los Angeles in school and out of gangs. It is an after-school organization that provides mentoring, tutor- ing and summer bridge programs.
Matthew remembers that law talk at the table was a fact of growing up, and that his social circle as a child was mostly the children of other lawyers and doctors. He always assumed he would be a lawyer. The occupation was so normal it was almost like breathing. He didn’t even know how many types of law- yers there were -- he thought all lawyers were trial lawyers like his dad and the ones he saw on television. Growing up Irish Catholic, the old adage was that every good Irishman had his doctor, his priest, and his lawyer.
Matthew clerked for U.S. Dist. Judge William J. Rey after law school, and then interviewed for a job at a major east coast law firm at the urging of a fellow law clerk who had been of- fered but turned down a job at the firm. Matthew said he went through a whole bunch of interviews and was expecting a solid job offer. But that was not in the cards. He calls it the doctrine of unintended consequences – the east coast firm did not ex- tend a job offer, so Matthew returned to Los Angeles to the family firm. Within a year, he had signed up a major plaintiff’s case and then settled it for a hefty sum. He calls the east coast rejection the best non-offer he has ever received.
1 Sister Courtney is also a lawyer and worked at the firm for a time as well, although she is now on what they call “senior status.” She was the sixth child and they called her the bar baby as she was born the year John took the bar examination.
Matthew likes the puzzle aspect of trial work. Putting together the evidence and making it fit a cohesive theory is invigorating. And intriguing. The most difficult part of any trial for him is adjusting to and respecting the idiosyncrasies of each court. All are run differently and he looks at each as if he were a house guest in new and various homes.
The most important lesson Matthew learned from his dad was civility above all else. From Patrick, Matthew learned to be a bridge builder, not a bomb thrower. And to be true to your own personality as jurors will see through it if you’re pretend- ing to be someone you’re not. From another lawyer, he learned that successful lawyers are really just good plagiarists: they just steal little bits and pieces from what they see other lawyers do. Matthew doesn’t mimic others, but he watches and learns to see what styles will work for him.
It is obvious that Matthew has great respect for the patriarch. He describes John as “sharp as a tack, witty, a quick wit, which is an amazing gift in trial court, and absolutely dogged in de- termination and preparation.” Patrick, he says, is the “consum- mate schmoozer. People just want to be around him. They just like him. He can distill every case to a very simple premise.” His own strengths are a lot of preparation and an unwillingness to take second place.
The American College of Trial Lawyers is an honor each of the three treasures. Matthew says the meetings are the best legal events he has ever attended, not only for the speakers, but for the other Fellows as well. Whenever he is asked for a referral in a jurisdiction where he knows no lawyers, he will simply send the requesting party the list of Fellows from the blue book, and will say, “any of these will be fine.”
Carey Matovich Billings, MT
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