by Ryan McKeen
Don Rumsfeld was right. You need to know your unknown unknowns.
In law there are things you know, things you know you don’t know, and things you don’t know you don’t know.
It’s always best to know something. Research can turn things you know you don’t know into things that you know but it’s it’s figuring out the unknown unknowns where lawyers earn their keep.
When I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about a case its often because I’m trying to figure out what what it is that I don’t know that I don’t know. The same thing happens when I’m mowing the lawn, going for a run, or taking a shower – it’s all about the unknown unknowns.
Mowing the lawn, going for a run, and taking a shower are the only times that I have time to think about the unknown unknowns in a case and convert them into simply things I know that I don’t know.
The point is that you need to figure out unknown unknowns. Doing so requires time alone to reflect. Unknown unknowns almost never appear when I’m sitting at my desk.
Let your mind wonder through a problem and get lost in it and only then will you find out what it is you know that you don’t know.