Every trial lawyer eventually gets that case.
The one with no clean story. No righteous client. No obvious villain on the other side. No theme that fits neatly on a PowerPoint slide or a jury consultant’s whiteboard.
The facts are messy. The law is worse. Your client did some things right and some things that make you wince. The jury is going to dislike someone, and there’s a non-zero chance it could be your client.
These are the cases where you don’t get to charge up the hill waving a flag. These are the cases where you don’t win by brute force, volume, or theatrics.
You win these cases by threading the needle.
And threading the needle is a very different skill set from winning the obvious case.
The First Mistake: Pretending This Is a “Normal” Case
Most lawyers lose tough cases long before voir dire because they treat them as they would any other case.
They over-argue. They over-explain. They over-defend.
They tell the jury, “My client did nothing wrong,” when the jury already knows that’s not true.
In needle-threading cases, absolutism kills you. Jurors are remarkably tolerant of imperfection. They are deeply suspicious of denial.
If your entire theory depends on jurors believing your client is blameless, you are already in trouble.
Your job is not to prove perfection. Your job is to define where responsibility ends.
That’s the needle.
Pick the Hill You’re Willing to Die On — And Abandon the Rest
I once knew a seasoned defense trial lawyer who described himself as a mercenary dropped into the jungle. He wasn’t there to debate philosophy or explain corporate culture. He was there to seize one hill, blow up the target, and get out.
That mentality matters most in tough cases.
You cannot defend everything. You cannot fix every bad document. You cannot rehabilitate every witness.
So stop trying.
Identify the one issue that actually matters to the verdict — not the 10 issues that make you uncomfortable. Then ruthlessly narrow your case around that issue.
Ask yourself:
- If the jury believes only one thing we say, what does it have to be?
- If we lose every side skirmish but win this one point, do we still win the case?
Everything else becomes background noise.
Threading the needle is about restraint. And restraint is hard for lawyers because we are trained to respond to everything.
But juries don’t reward completeness. They reward clarity.
Stop Trying to Win the Case in Depositions
In tough cases, depositions are not about dominance or “gotcha” moments. They are about information, tone, and credibility.
I once defended a case where the plaintiff claimed a serious cognitive injury. Instead of attacking, I let her talk — at length. Calmly. Comfortably. On video.
At trial, we played that deposition. In her case-in-chief, she suddenly couldn’t remember basic facts.
The jury noticed.
Threading the needle often means doing less in discovery, not more. Let the record develop naturally. Let inconsistencies reveal themselves without your fingerprints all over them.
Aggression in depositions feels good. It rarely helps in close cases.
Give the Other Side a Way to Save Face
In tough cases, opposing counsel is often under pressure too. They may know the case has problems. They may also know that backing down looks like weakness — to their client, their firm, or themselves.
If you corner them, they flip the board.
I learned this lesson over coffee at a Cuban cafeteria near the courthouse. A plaintiff lawyer friend summed it up perfectly: If he knows he’s going to lose, give him a way to save face.
That advice applies equally to mediation, discovery disputes, and trial.
You don’t need to humiliate the other side. You need to finish the game according to the rules.
Threading the needle means lowering the temperature, not raising it. The calmer lawyer usually wins the close case.
Jury Selection Is Where You Actually Win These Cases
In needle-threading cases, voir dire matters more than openings. You are not looking for jurors who will like your client. You are looking for jurors who will draw lines.
You need jurors who believe:
- Responsibility has limits.
- Bad outcomes don’t always mean wrongdoing.
- You can acknowledge mistakes without awarding damages.
If a juror believes every injury requires compensation, thank them for their honesty and move on.
You are not converting anyone. You are identifying landmines.
Jury selection is not about charm. It is about risk management.
Tell the Jury the Truth — But Only the Parts That Matter
This is where most lawyers panic.
They hear “tell the truth” and think it means confessing every flaw in their case. That’s not honesty. That’s abdication.
Threading the needle means acknowledging the bad fact once, cleanly, and without drama — then reframing it in its proper context.
“Yes, this happened.”
“No, that does not mean what they want it to mean.”
Then move on.
The jury does not need you to apologize. They need you to orient them.
When you linger on the bad facts, you elevate them. When you normalize them, you deflate them.
Openings Should Be Shorter Than You’re Comfortable With
In tough cases, long openings are a mistake.
The more you talk, the more you explain. The more you explain, the more you sound defensive.
Your opening should do three things:
- Define the narrow issue that matters.
- Acknowledge the imperfection without surrender.
- Tell the jury what not to decide.
“This case is not about whether something unfortunate happened. It’s about whether my client is legally responsible for it.”
That sentence alone threads more needles than most hour-long openings.
Cross-Examination Is About Control, Not Destruction
In needle-threading cases, you don’t need to destroy witnesses. You need to guide them.
Over-aggressive cross creates sympathy. An under-controlled cross creates confusion.
The sweet spot is calm inevitability — where the witness helps you without realizing it.
If you’re trying to “win” every exchange, you’re missing the point. You’re not scoring points. You’re building permission.
Closing is when you ask for the line.
By the time you close, the jury already knows the case is imperfect. They’re waiting to see if you respect them enough to say it out loud.
This is where you draw the line clearly and unapologetically.
“You may not like everything you heard. That’s okay. The law doesn’t ask you to approve of everything. It asks you to decide one thing — and only one thing.”
Threading the needle means giving jurors a verdict they can live with.
Not a heroic verdict. Not a dramatic verdict. A rational verdict.
The Hard Truth About These Cases
Some cases can’t be won cleanly. Some can only be managed to a win.
These cases reward patience, humility, preparation, and judgment. They punish the ego.
Young lawyers often think great trial lawyers are great because they’re aggressive, charismatic, or fearless.
In my experience, the best trial lawyers in the toughest cases are the ones who know when not to swing.
Threading the needle is not flashy. But it wins.
And if you can win those cases, the easy ones take care of themselves.
Frank Ramos is a partner at Goldberg Segalla in Miami, where he practices commercial litigation, products, and catastrophic personal injury. You can follow him on LinkedIn, where he has about 80,000 followers.
The post Threading The Needle: How To Win The Case That Can’t Be Won (At Least Not The Obvious Way) appeared first on Above the Law.