There are often witnesses to interview, public records to obtain, and the like. If we have no other piece of information by which to evaluate a case, we usually have great sources of information in the clients themselves. I pick the round. Cases that look like winners based upon their facts can easily be knocked out by the punch of a solid principle of law during just about any round. A legal principle with which you were not familiar can turn your winner into a loser at the motion stage, at trial, or on appeal.
Legal principles can also have a profound effect on the shape of a trial.
Even an absence of facts can have an impact if the law dictates that a presumption or an adverse inference or judicial notice can fill the void. Len Niehoff is with Butzel Long, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.