Last week, Lit Daily was pleased to run an essay by David J. Richardson, a senior counsel at SulmeyerKupetz, on “10 Survival Tips for Nice People who Happen to be Litigators.”

It inspired a compelling response by Paul Kiernan, a trial and appellate litigator who serves as the executive partner of Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C. office.

Check out an excerpt below—and please feel free to join the conversation. Lit Daily welcomes submissions from readers on all aspects of the craft of litigation, from pitching business to closing arguments. Email me at [email protected] for more information and guidelines.

“Being Nice” and Finishing First

By Paul Kiernan

I read with great interest the recent “10 Survival Tips for Nice People who Happen to be Litigators.” And while author David J. Richardson has some useful tips—yes, you need breaks, and yes, pause before you hit Send—I thought that the lede was buried. For of all the tips needed for survival, the indispensable one is: win. Nice or crabby, a lawyer who does not win his or her share of litigated matters is not going to be a survivor.

Which is where being nice gives a lawyer an edge. I do not mean nice-timid or nice-enabling. I mean nice-smart.

In the field of commercial and corporate litigation where I work, the best lawyers are also nice people. They are confident and self-aware. They have colleagues and protégés who like working with them. They respect the rules. They serve their communities. They don't pick stupid fights or deny reasonable requests or play hide-the-ball.

What do clients see when they hire litigators who double as nice people?

Efficiency. No dumb fights. No unnecessary trips to the courthouse. No extra charges for things that could have been resolved with courtesy and respect.

Focus on the client. If my job is to achieve my client's goals, I am not going to spend my time or my client's money trying to vindicate my sense of self-worth or trying to spank opposing counsel.

Deep thinking. It is far easier to play-act the role of “bulldog” than to actually do the hard work of thinking of the right argument, framing the pointed question, and making the tough analysis. It's always easier to growl than to speak, to snipe than to respond. But what's more effective for the client in the long run?

Paul goes on to discuss other key attributes of the nice-smart litigator, why you don't have to be a jerk to make a witness cry, and how to square being nice with demands by clients for “a real pitbull.” Read the full piece here.

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Watch Out Wall Street: He's Baack

Robert Khuzami

Here's a hire that should make Wall Street nervous: Robert Khuzami is leaving Kirkland & Ellis to take the number-two job at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

From 2009 to 2013, Khuzami headed the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division, where he brought a record number of new cases and undertook a top-to-bottom overhaul of how the SEC, reeling at the time from the Bernie Madoff scandal, detects and prosecutes wrongdoing.

It's notable that one of the first acts by Geoffrey Berman, the SDNY's new interim U.S. Attorney, was to hire Khuzami—a lawyer best-known for his high-level Obama administration experience—as his deputy.

Then again, Khuzami was never actually viewed as a Democrat. When I profiled him in 2009, he said he has “been a registered independent nearly my whole life.” In 2007, he gave $2,300 to John McCain, and in 2004, he spoke at the Republican National Convention. (His speech was about terrorism.) Federal Election Commission records show no subsequent political contributions.

He also called his position as the SEC's director of enforcement “completely apolitical, near as I can tell.”

But one thing was clear: he wasn't afraid to go after Wall Street giants and greenlight aggressive enforcement strategies.

If anything, Khuzami seems overqualified for his new job.

Before he headed the 1,300-person Enforcement Division, he was general counsel for the Americas for Deutsche Bank A.G. and before that, chief of the securities and commodities fraud task force in the SDNY.

When he joined Kirkland as a partner in the firm's government and internal investigations practice, he was reportedly paid $5 million a year for the first two years.

Mark Filip, Kirkland & Ellis partner and global executive management committee member, wished him well. “During his time at Kirkland & Ellis, Rob was an outstanding partner and built a great practice,” he said in an emailed statement. “It's an honor for him to be selected for such a respected and important position, and we wish him tremendous success.”

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Ex-Kozinski Clerk Is Glad He's Gone—But Now What?

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati corporate and securities partner Katherine Ku has an essay in The Washington Post that's well worth reading.

Ku clerked for now-retired U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski from 2003 to 2004 (and for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from 2004 to 2005).

Describing the judge's chambers as “a hostile, demeaning and persistently sexualized environment,” Ku shared her relief that Kozinski stepped down. “He should not be in a position to judge cases, including those involving sexual harassment,” she wrote.

But she also expressed frustration that his retirement essentially shuts down the investigation into his misconduct.

“That allows him to disappear, quietly receiving his pension, until the outrage dies down. It allows him a greater chance at redemption,” Ku wrote.

“And indeed, Kozinski, 67, is a talented and restless individual,” she continued. “In a few years, we may see an attempt at quiet reemergence—not on the federal bench, but perhaps through a law school teaching appointment or in the realm of private dispute resolution.”

Is that appropriate? Ku points out that a law school dean might one day need to decide if Kozinski should be in a position to teach budding lawyers, or a law firm partner might need to assess if he would make a fair arbitrator. But they'll have to do that “without knowing the full scope of his misconduct.”

“[I]nvestigations are not only about defending the rights of the accused,” she wrote. “They can be an important forum for victims to air their stories and for witnesses to share what they have seen. They can be critical for determining proportionate punishment and the suitability of redemption. They prevent us from falling back into collective silence.”

Prior to Friday's filing, Justice Department lawyers previously told at least one federal judge in Washington, D.C., that the government treats the president's tweets as “official statements.”

The amusement park operator is accused of committing thousands of violations of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act's requirement that cash register receipts print no more than five digits of a customer's credit card number.

Turns out he's worked all over the federal government, including stints at the Justice Department, the Hill, the Department of Homeland Security and private practice.

During his plea, 39-year-old Joo Hyun Bahn said he facilitated a bribe and knew what he was doing “was a bad act.” Federal sentencing guidelines range from three to seven years.

Because it's hard to find workers who can make honey walnut shrimp just right?

Complex Litigation columnist Michael Hoenig revisits the issue of admissibility of computer-generated animations purporting to reconstruct a series of events or an accident.