← Back to home

Document A-5905

AI Analysis

Summary: The document discusses whether the Brune firm's actions on May 12, 2011, constituted a 'strategic judgment', and explores the definition of this term through references to Justice Stevens' dissent and Second Circuit guidance.
Significance: This document is potentially important as it discusses the concept of 'strategic judgment' in the context of a legal case, and its implications for evaluating the performance of the Brune firm.
Key Topics: strategic judgment in legal proceedings performance deficiency of the Brune firm interpretation of a court's decision
Key People:
  • Justice Stevens - Supreme Court Justice whose dissent is referenced

Full Text

CAC3PARC 3 1 have that discussion. 2 The first question obviously is was the performance 3 deficient here. And that I think turns on the question of did 4 the Brune firm make a strategic judgment on that fateful 5 May 12, 2011 day, maybe even earlier during the voir dire 6 itself. And I'm not sure there is a great definition of 7 strategic judgment, but there is very good language in Justice 8 Stevens' dissent, but I don't think the majority disagreed with 9 it, that talks about a conscious choice between two 10 alternatives borne of deliberation not happenstance, 11 inattention or neglect. 12 The Second Circuit has told us that it is not a 13 strategic judgment when what is going on is oversight or 14 carelessness or ineptitude. 15 I like to think about this as strategic judgments are 16 situations where lawyers say, one of two courses could have 17 answered my client's interests. I choose A after some thought. 18 It may be that B is the wiser course. But we retry a lot of 19 cases if we second guess lawyers in that situation and 20 obviously the Supreme Court says we shouldn't. 21 I say in our papers that if what went on here was one 22 of two things. If the Brune firm in that plaza conversation 23 said the equivalent of let's sandbag the Court, let's go 24 forward. We know this information and we get a free bite at 25 the apple. It's hard to think that's not a strategic decision, SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300 DOJ-OGR-00010160