I’ve seen plenty of attorneys let their nerves get the better of them in the courtroom, but I rarely hear attorneys discuss stage fright. Why don’t we talk about it? It negatively impacts the quality of representation for many defense attorneys, and I’ve seen prosecutors spend whole trials looking like deer in headlights. I know a fair number of prosecutors and defense attorneys who desperately plead out their cases because they fear trial. I don’t remember anyone discussing ways to deal with stage fright in law school, and I don’t think most public defender or prosecutor training covers it in any real depth either. The advice seems to just be “keep doing it until you aren’t nervous anymore,” but for some people, just doing it over and … Read entire article »