Step Four: Create a Chronology
Now, clear everything off your dining table (or any large work-surface) and lay out your notes and legal pads. Use your Post-it Flags and Post-it Notes to mark five of what you consider the most important facts that support your case. Then mark five facts that you think are the most damaging to your case. This is to keep you focused on a group of central facts and to see if your lawyer agrees that these are actually what you and he or she should focus on. What I've encountered countless times are clients who want to tell their entire story over and over to whoever will lend a sympathetic ear. You will need to tell your lawyer your entire story, most likely several times. Selecting those five most salient facts will give your story some structure.
At this point, you've been handwriting your notes. Now start typing them. Again, start creating an outline in chronological order. Some entries will be nothing more than a date and a brief description of what happened, but some will be very detailed and include dialogue you remember: He said this, and I said that, and he said this, and I said that. Writing these things out first longhand and then typing them later will be a tremendous help in keeping you consistent over the weeks, months and potentially years that your litigation may drag on. You will have to be able to repeat exactly (as close to verbatim as possible) what you said when asked a specific question in your deposition in May, when you are asked that same specific question during a jury trial in July … two years later.
Handwriting your answer once, then retyping it later, will help you answer the question correctly the first time it's asked. And if it is asked again months or years later, you'll be even more prepared to answer it correctly again. It is a mistake to assume that time will not reshape or amend your memories; it happens to everyone, no matter his or her age. Time alters our memories. That's a scientific fact.
On a side-note, if the thought of a litigation process that goes on for years is not appealing to you, you may want to recall American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr's quote: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."