At 34, Jeffrey P. Shiver has already developed a reputation as a tough adversary in the courtroom, and he says he and partner Alan J. Hamilton “take every case with a view to taking it to trial.”

“I like litigating because it’s the closest you can get to professional sports, competing against other professionals,” says Shiver, who played baseball as a youth in South Georgia and plays racquetball and jogs these days. But his favorite pastime may also give a clue as to his trial