Local Rules of Procedure — Abridged for New Counsel

1. You are counsel. So is the machine. The client pays for both of you. The client is not in the room.
2. The proceeding runs five stages. Each stage, both sides call one card. Higher testimony holds the narrative for that stage. Hold more narrative through Closing Arguments and the verdict is yours. (Stages IV and V count double. Late testimony is the only kind anyone remembers.)
3. Every witness you call bills its BUD to the client's retainer — win or lose the stage. If the retainer hits zero, the case is dismissed, and the proceeding is awarded to whichever firm billed more. Read that sentence again.
4. A witness's TIME is its remaining engagement. Testifying at Stage N consumes N TIME. Witnesses with TIME left return to your hand. The rest are excused, with thanks, forever.
5. Documents (dashed cards) bill nothing and testify at a flat 5 — but each one entered erodes the definable subject of the proceeding. Subject reaches zero: mistrial. Again — most billables wins a mistrial.
6. You carry two objections. An objection strikes half of a witness's testimony and enters one skeptical question into the record. Some witnesses perform better under scrutiny. It says so on their card. Read the cards.