I'm an old trial lawyer.
Preparation is the be-all of good trial work. Everything else - felicity of expression, improvisational brilliance - is a satellite around the sun. Thorough preparation is that sun.
You learn on the job. When I was a young lawyer and got a case, I knew nothing about the subject. You start reading, you look for the philosophy behind it, and by the time you are actually in a court of law, you are a master.
Honestly, I have heard a lot in my 16 years as a prosecutor.
Criminal law is one of the few professions where the client buys someone else's luck. The luck of most people is strictly non-transferrable. But a good criminal lawyer can sell all his luck to a client, and the more luck he sells the more he has to sell.
I always ask my law clerks, in addition to reading all the briefs, including all the amici briefs, that if there's a good law review article, they should bring it to me.
Remember that it is not the lawyer who knows the most law, but the one who best prepares his case, who wins.
Your job as a trial attorney is to try to convey to the jury the essence of the people you represent.
A lawyer should have her facts straight.
Dershowitz may be a genius in some ways, but he's not necessarily the advocate you want on your side.
