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Strategies for the Cross-Examination of Experts
In my last post, I discussed what a trial attorney can do to prepare for the cross-examination of an adverse expert. Below are some strategies that can be used in successfully cross-examining an adverse expert witness: 1. Favorable Evidence: One tactic that should not be ignored is using the opposing party’s expert to concede to →
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Cross-Examination of Experts: Where to Start.
Where do you start with your preparation to cross-examine an expert? The following is a list of areas to review: 1. The Expert’s Curriculum Vita: You should thoroughly review the expert’s c.v. Expert’s will exaggerate and even make up credentials. In a criminal case I was defending the State’s expert, an environmental specialist, claimed he →
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For the Record: Offers to Prove… Do They Make a Difference?
You appear for your final pretrial conference and after a short discussion or perhaps with no hearing, the Court grants your opponent’s motion in limine and excludes evidence or testimony essential to your client’s case. Now what do you do? Well, your starting point for an answer to this dilemma is Rule 103 of the Federal →
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After the Party’s Over: How to Handle a Deposition Errata Sheet
So you have carefully prepared the client for deposition, you have scoured his discovery responses and medical records for any problems, contradictions, omissions and the deposition of your client is over, now what? Upon receipt of the deposition, you, your paralegal and client need to carefully review the transcript for any discrepancies or inaccuracies. You →
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Refreshing Recollection vs. Past Recollection Recorded
Refreshing Recollection. A client needs to be thoroughly familiarized with what it means to forget as opposed to not knowing something. If one says, “I don’t know,” something, that means it was never in their brain. “I don’t remember,” on the other hand, means that the information was once in their brain, but cannot be →
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The Silent Cross-Examination… When nothing is better.
Nothing is more thrilling than conducting a good cross-examination of an adverse witness. The attorney through a series of leading questions wrangles concessions and makes his own case through a line of short and concise rhetorical questions that lead to an undeniable conclusion in favor of one’s client. However, there are times when no cross-examination is the best course of →
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Mastering the Rules of Evidence: Is it really important?
Early in my career, the “rules” of evidence were derived by reading case-law and the handful of statutes that addressed privilege and competence. If you wanted to know the “rules”, you had to research and read case-law. The only ready compendium were books like Graham’s Handbook on Federal Evidence. Today, litigators in every state and →
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The Barrister's Toolbox 