Clarity is a strategic advantage. Credibility wins cases.
Schaffer Kennedy Johnson does not run a volume practice. We take a limited number of matters in which the outcome turns on a hard, often unanswered legal question, or on facts that have to be built from nothing. That is a deliberate choice about what kind of practice this is, and it is the reason our briefs and our arguments have to be right the first time.
We work backward. Before we plead, we identify the precise elements a jury charge or an appellate standard of review will demand, and we build the record to satisfy them. Error preservation starts at the pleadings, not after the verdict. In criminal matters, the discipline is the same: out-investigate the government, find the facts the agents missed, and prepare every cross-examination long before trial.
Our clients hand us their liberty, their businesses, their money, and their reputations. We treat that as a fiduciary obligation, and we believe it entitles them to our complete effort on every task at every stage — including the unglamorous ones.
What we do not do
- We do not take cases we are not prepared to try.
- We do not staff a matter with lawyers the client has never met.
- We do not promise outcomes. We tell clients what we think will happen and why, including when the answer is unwelcome.
- We turn down most of what comes in. If we are not the right firm for a matter, we say so and, where we can, we say who is.