tv host female author lawyer how to use trial techniques to win

What to do when you are in trial?

If you wait until you are in trial, your closing argument will look unprepared and patched together. Plan ahead for a smooth and seamless closing. Watch and listen. Watch the jurors’ and judge’s facial expressions during trial and listen to the message being sent by judge and jury.

How to prepare for a trial?

Be alert and try to read what the judge is really asking before deciding whether an argument or question is really necessary. Learning from trial textbooks is critical to preparing for trial, but be practical in your approach and be prepared for the unexpected. Ask for help from those who have been through a trial.

How to prepare a closing argument for a trial?

Prepare closing argument ahead of time. Your closing argument should cite the evidence and law that supports your theme and the merits of your case. Do not wait until trial begins to prepare your closing argument. Prepare an outline before trial begins that cites exhibits and testimony you expect will be admitted at trial, and modify your closing during trial as the evidence evolves. If you wait until you are in trial, your closing argument will look unprepared and patched together. Plan ahead for a smooth and seamless closing.

How to prepare jury instructions?

It takes significant time and strategy to prepare jury instructions (or proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law in non-jury cases). Become a master of the law and prepare jury instructions well in advance of trial and use them as your guide as to what you must prove at trial. Prepare witness outlines, not questions.

When to use demonstrative aids?

Judges and jurors expect a visual presentation, even in business cases. Your demonstrative aids should be used during opening statements, with witness examinations, and during closing argument, to tell your story in a visual way that supports your case.

Do you have to prepare questions for a witness?

Prepare witness outlines, not questions. Experienced lawyers prepare outlines of areas of questions for witnesses rather than a series of prepared questions. Remember, you are telling a story, which is most effectively presented through a conversation with your witness. Reading exact questions prevents you from presenting a fluid question and answer session with your witness. Of course, there are certain questions on direct that you must ask precisely to establish a fact, or to set up impeachment questions on cross-examination, but those are the exceptions and not the rule.

How to streamline a trial?

In the days before trial, streamline your case. Eliminate witnesses and documents you don’t need. Create a lineup of the witnesses who remain and the evidence you will put on through each. Your case will only get better.

How to keep calm during a trial?

Keep a calm mind-and listen. Psychologists did a study of some of baseball’s greatest hitters. DiMaggio, Mays, Mantle: all of them kept a “calm mind,” reading the seams, waiting until the ball was on top of them to swing. So, too, we should keep a calm mind, reading the seams of the testimony, listening to each word the witness speaks. It is the ultimate rule of trial by aikido.

What to do when conducting voir dire?

If you conducted voir dire, you ought to do opening, too. You are the one who made promises to the jury. They look to you to deliver, no one else. Besides, you have waited a long time for this opportunity, so take advantage of it. Argue your case in the words the jury will read in the charge. Tell them, without apology, how much you want and why. Do not hold back. If you don’t care, they won’t care.

Why draft a jury charge before a deposition?

Drafting a jury charge before the first deposition always helps. It forces us to ask questions in the very words and concepts jurors use to reach their verdict. My wife, Kathryn, once got a plant manager whose employee accidentally shot and killed our client’s wife to admit that “. . . allowing our employee to carry a weapon was the proximate cause of the shooting and Mrs. Uribe’s death.” She had first taught him the meaning of “proximate cause,” then helped him to make a ruinous admission using the language he’d just learned. That, and 60 Minutes asking to put cameras in the courtroom, assured an extraordinary settlement.

What is the job of a plaintiff in a criminal case?

That is true of any trial, including criminal cases where we don’t even put on evidence. Our job is to persuade. Simplifying the story, telling it with absolute clarity of thought, is the key to convincing jurors of anything. Only the journeyman consoles himself that the jurors didn’t understand his case. If they didn’t get it, he didn’t explain it.

How to avoid objections to a case?

To minimize objections even further, reach an agreement with opposing counsel prior to trial on the admissibility of the evidence, and ask the judge to resolve any disputes. That way, you will be able to use key exhibits during opening. If the court allows, personally hand a couple of the exhibits to jurors during your presentation. Even that minimal physical contact establishes a bond. If there are bad documents, explain them and, if possible, embrace them-but pass those out, too. It tells jurors-the aikido of opening-that you want them to see even harmful evidence, an unmistakable sign your case is strong.

What to say to a jury about a patent claim?

As the journalists say, don’t bury your lead. Come out smokin’. Don’t explain how some esoteric patent claim was infringed. Tell the jury the defendant stole your client’s invention and made a fortune with it.

Speaking

I give my audiences the tools to conquer any crisis and live their legacy. It's all about persuasion. First we persuade ourselves and our Inner Jury to make the best decisions. Then we persuade others, our Outer Jury, to come along. That's how we win.

Coaching

What are bad choices costing you? Money, opportunity, self confidence or relationships? Your Inner Jury is the part of you that chooses. I give you the tools to persuade your Inner Jury to make the choices that serve you best. Then we move on to persuading your Outer Jury of clients, customers, friends and family to give you what you want.

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Follow Heather as she shares specific tips to conquer any crisis and live your legacy.