Claim analysis and pre-trial preparation can sometimes become so focused on determining what the law is that lawyers lose sight of our ability to change that law. In some cases, that means discovering and arguing new legal issues. In others, it means persuading the courts to take your side of a question that has not been decided before or has produced conflicting decisions, or even to overturn a binding ruling that stands in your way. To create these opportunities, you have to look beyond the most direct paths available—supplementing your likely trial arguments with an awareness of how the decisions you make before and at trial affect your ability to shape the law on appeal. This is as true in insurance litigation as in any other area of law.