What’s one of the biggest mistakes made by attorneys seeking damages? Separating liability from damages and leaving the damages presentation to the end of their case. It’s important to weave damages — especially evidence supporting claims for emotional distress damages — throughout your case. It’s an easy mistake to understand after all — as attorneys... Continue Reading The post Getting Bigger and Better Damages appeared first on The Winning Litigator.
About ten years ago, I was becoming a little frustrated with the rapidity of the jury selection process in my court. In my court, we are often given only a few minutes to assemble our list of peremptory strikes. The process takes place usually with the prospective jurors seated in the gallery waiting, so the... Continue Reading The post Jury Selection is a Sticky (Note) Process appeared first on The Winning Litigator.
Voir dire is your chance to determine which prospective jurors are qualified to sit on the jury in your trial. Regardless of whether you do the voir dire yourself or the judge does it, voir dire is a terrific opportunity to develop rapport with jurors and make them feel comfortable in your presence.... Continue Reading The post The Top 10 Voir Dire Mistakes That Make Jurors Dislike You appeared first on The Winning Litigator.
Not to mention it identifies everything for the record. Everything has a name, and names are important! In a 6 week Multimillion dollar lawsuit attorneys regularly forgot that important lesson and referred to exhibits with names like “the june email” or “the spreadsheet we looked at last Thursday”. The transcript, had we not created it electronically and linked the exhibits, would have been useless to the appeals court.
Most judges allow jurors to take notes during trials. At the commencement of the trial, the jury is handed small notepads and pencils for note taking. The judge also typically gives the jury some basic administrative instructions about what to do with the notebooks when they are finished each day. Once those notepads are handed... Continue Reading The post Jury Communication: 10 Tips to Make Sure the Jury Takes the Right Notes appeared first on The Winning Litigator.
In our lives as trial lawyers, we are often required to approach witnesses on the stand. Judges typically safeguard the space between attorney and witness — as sort of a demilitarized zone. As early as law school trial advocacy class, students learn about the important custom of asking the court before approaching the witness. I... Continue Reading The post Do this Before You Approach the Witness appeared first on The Winning Litigator.
Thanks for your comment, Phil. I think that is a great idea. The difficulty is that the centralized systems sometimes prevent attorneys from being able to create their own presentations as effectively. But I do agree it helps level the playing field. One of the nice things about trial practice software is that if you learn how to use it properly, you can operate it yourself in the courtroom. That is typically what I do, but it takes practice.
Good article which hopefully a few trial lawyers will read. In Australia we tend to opt for an in-court technician …often a VERY tech literate junior lawyer to operate a centralized system for all parties who then share the cost ..this helps to level the playing field so to speak
Hi Larry, My actor friends and I often work for NITA and for Kirkland and Ellis on their litigator training programs. We study case histories and then we are deposed by both attorneys on both sides of the cast. Sometimes we testify at mock trials. Catherine (Probus) Aselford