While great civil trial work often requires strategic planning, take care not to get too bogged down in thinking through HOW you will do the work that the work itself suffers and does not get done quickly enough.

After I had a very fun and worthwhile run handling nonproactive prosecution — I had focused on street crime, domestic violence, and sex crimes as an assistant district attorney — I was fortunate enough to get a position in a newly created anti-organized crime unit. Now I could lay out investigations to build my cases months or more before an arrest, as opposed to always reacting to arrests. It was a welcome change.

Even more than having the chance to build my case was the reality that I determined the schedule. Before, when reacting to an arrest made by a police officer, there were strict deadlines: the defendant had to be before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest; and if the defendant were incarcerated, we generally had to obtain an indictment within days else the defendant would be freed, regardless of whether bail had been set. You had to move. And fast.

Now, doing organized crime work, I had all the time in the world, it seemed. And I used that time to plot out my investigation strategy; decide which bad guys I would try to flip to work for me, and when; seek out experts when necessary and so forth. But after a while, I realized that I maybe had gotten a bit tripped up in coming up with great plans and using all the time I had. I took a while — on reflection, too long — before finally getting certain evidence into what would be a month-long grand jury presentation. While it was a relief not to have the time pressure of street crime work, that time pressure also ensured that I did move the work along.

Complex civil litigation, particularly commercial litigation, can be a lot like that organized crime work. While it does depend a lot on the judge and jurisdiction, you often get a lot of time to get the work done. You can work out longer discovery or briefing schedules. And you get a lot of time to plan.

However, take care, particularly if you’re a plaintiff: while some planning, and some time to execute, is prudent (indeed, often required), don’t get caught up in your apparent scheduling freedom. We have the expression, “justice delayed is justice denied” for a reason. Make the plan, but still try to make it one that moves the case along so that you can get justice, whatever side you are on, for your client.

John Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.