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The Floor for the Value of a Human Life is Flying High
You have a wrongful death claim and need an indisputable source of information to determine the minimum value of a human life. Wouldn’t it be nice if the federal government published minimum values for the loss of a human life? Well, they have! The U.S. Defense Department has made a conscious decision on this very disputed →
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Closing Argument – Save Your Zingers for Rebuttal!
If you are the plaintiff or the state prosecutor in a criminal case, you have the advantage of going last. However, remember that the scope of rebuttal is determined by the issues addressed in the closing argument of opposing counsel. When I was a law clerk right out of school, I saw team of attorneys →
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Plotting Your Strategy: Does Your Trial Have a Theme?
A theme acts as the unifying thread of your case. It is a thing that motivates the jurors to take action. Your theme needs to be integrated into your jury void dire, opening statement, direct and cross-examination, closing argument and jury instructions. There are number of potential themes. Watch movies and see how things are →
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The Million Dollar Question: How Much Should I Ask For?
There is no set rule. I would recommend that you play it by ear. If you have a case that is clearly worth a good deal of money, give the jury guidance as to how you calculated damages by breaking down each separate category covered in the jury instruction on damages and assigning a number to it. →
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The “Dos” and “Don’ts” of Closing Arguments
What are some common “Dos” and “Don’ts” when it comes to closing argument? Here is a list I put together: Do: Speak loud and clearly. Be confident. Vary your tone and location as you move from point to point. Be organized. Begin and end on a high note so your points will be remembered. →
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Closing Argument – What to Do When Your Opponent Deals from the Bottom of the Deck
It is important to stick with the argument that you’ve planned out. Then aggressively and positively put forward your case. You don’t want to waste too much time responding to the other side’s argument to the detriment of their own. You want to help the jurors reach their own conclusions about the case with the use →
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Puzzled Jurors? Piecing it Together for the Jury…
Your job is to help the jury see how the jury instructions apply to the evidence and that you’ve proven the essential elements of your claim, covering the essential facts and promises you made in your opening statement. You want to check your story provided to the jury in opening statement and show how various →
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Burden of Proof, David Ball on Damages 3, Gerry Spence, Jury Forms, Jury Verdict Size, Moe Levine, Only Chance to Recover Damages, Pain & Suffering, Polarizing the Case: Exposing and Defeating the Malingering Myth, Pre-Existing Conditions, Redistributing Wealth, Speak like Churchill Stand Like Lincoln, Sympathy and Vengeance, The Whole Man Argument, Theater Tips and Strategies for Jury Trials/
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Closing Argument: How to Combat Guilt by Association
Oftentimes, we have clients who through no fault of their own grow up in difficult circumstances or are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The opposing attorney may try to paint your client as less than worthy in the eyes of the law. However, remember that lady justice holds the scales of →
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Trials, Lies & Videotapes
“One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words” – 1918 Newspaper Advertisement for the San Antonio Light. Often I look to my own law practice and find inspiration for a topic on trial advocacy. In preparation for an upcoming trial and mediation, I decided that a sprawling case involving boxes of documents, video interviews, audio recordings, →
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Zen and the Art of Trial Advocacy
“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power →
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Oscar Pistorius Trial: Lying, the Truth and Inaccuracy
The Oscar Pistorius Trial poses a basic question about human beings and credibility. The question being asked: Is he telling the “truth”, or is he a “murderer”? The death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, happened in the dark of the evening after he was roused from his slumber. He claims to have awoken to sounds →
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What to Do When They Call Your Client a Liar, a Fraud and a Cheat.
The defense has enlisted the aid of a hired gun “expert” who insinuates or is going to testify that your client is a malingerer or a fraud. What can you do to address such tactics? Can you exclude the testimony? Should you address it head on or skirt the issue? Hopefully, this blog will offer →
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When Compromise Must Be Avoided
Justice oftentimes is victimized in the name of “compromise” and “fairness”. Have you ever been in a negotiation in a case with a mediator and asked for a range for settlement purposes. The natural inclination is to equally split the difference and assume that you are willing to do so. However, a range is just →
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Why a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
A picture is worth a thousand words. Napoleon Bonaparte One picture is worth 1,000 denials. Ronald Reagan Let’s face it, in the context of a trial pictures and other demonstrative evidence can have a very powerful impact on a jury. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, attorneys could give closing arguments that could →
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Jurors: Helping Them, Help You.
“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” —Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Paine, 1789. Jurors… They are truly the heart and soul of our justice system. No invention known to man has a greater potential to →
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Closing Arguments: Strict Liability, Dangerous Instrumentalities, Vicarious Liability and Use of the Lion Analogy
It always helps to use an analogy to explain an obtuse or complex legal principle. Strict liability for the actions of others or for events where no real negligence or lack of care has occurred is a difficult concept to convey to a jury. Strict liability can arise in a product liability setting, from vicarious →
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When Things Just Don’t Figure…
We are often confronted with confusing and conflicting technical data and statistics in confronting experts of all sorts. A few well chosen quotes or analogies can often be used with juries to debunk or blunt the impact of such testimony. Here are a few suggestions to add to your trial tactics bag of tricks: 1. →
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“A Tail Isn’t a Leg” Analogy – Saying its So, Doesn’t Make It So
Ever have an attorney argue a question of law or fact which just was not so. Some people believe if they say something loud and frequently enough, it makes it so. Abraham Lincoln had a pretty clever way of dealing with such tactics. On one occasion, Abraham Lincoln, as a young trial lawyer in Illinois, →
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