Legal Reflection
The Right Question Can Change the Case
In many cases, we begin with dozens of documents, intertwined facts, two conflicting narratives, and claims that may initially appear complicated. Yet, as the case is examined more closely, it sometimes becomes clear that all this complexity revolves around one question that was not asked in the right way.
- Author
- Lawyer Omar Al-Baghdadi
- Published
- Read time
- 5 minutes
- Updated
The Right Question Can Change the Case
In many cases, we begin with dozens of documents, intertwined facts, two conflicting narratives, and claims that may initially appear complicated.
But as the case is examined more closely, it sometimes becomes clear that all this complexity revolves around one question that was not asked in the right way.
Is the amount a debt or a contribution?
Did the signature create an obligation, or merely confirm a fact?
Is the damage established, or is the only established matter the occurrence of the error?
Is the problem in the legal text, or in the evidence?
Once the right question is reached, the scattered papers begin to fall into order, the value of each document becomes clear, and it becomes easier to distinguish what is essential from what is merely detail.
That is why practice has taught me that preparing a case does not always begin by searching for the answer.
Rather, it begins with something more difficult:
knowing what question the court should be answering in the first place.
A good answer may change part of the case,
but the right question may change the entire case.
— Omar Al-Baghdadi