Last Friday, after deliberating for only a few hours, a Manhattan jury awarded journalist E. Jean Carroll $83 million in damages for defamation in a lawsuit she filed against Donald J. Trump. The former president, who devoted most of his in-person energy at trial to insulting the judge, bullying the plaintiff, and pitching tiny tantrums, has not only conceded that he was out-lawyered, but has also, perhaps in a historic first, avoided defaming Carroll on social media or in the press in the intervening days, seemingly in actual recognition of this verdict. There seems to be, at least for the moment, a template for stopping a serial harasser, misogynist, and adjudicated sexual abuser from persisting in that behavior.

Perhaps all of our anguish about how the existing legal guardrails are inadequate to hold Trump to account are wrong. Maybe we already know exactly what needs to be done to win against him, in a court of law at least—it demands only rock-ribbed judges, seasoned lawyers, and a jury that can still detect a bully when they smell one.

Carroll’s legal team handled the litigation as it handled the prior defamation trial, with competence and focus. Roberta Kaplan, whose law firm represents Carroll, has not only prevailed over Trump in both civil defamation lawsuits, she also beat the Nazis and Klansmen who marched in Charlottesville in 2017, and successfully represented Edie Windsor in a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act at the Supreme Court, opening the door to marriage equality.

Kaplan, who became a chapter in my book, Lady Justice, about women lawyers who fought back against Trump during his presidency, is again receiving plaudits this week for her legal acumen and strategic skills in court (disclosure, Kaplan is a friend). But there’s one other quality Kaplan brings to counsel table that perhaps hasn’t received sufficient attention. I point it out because it in fact seems critical to her larger successful strategy. I........

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