Many trial lawyers don’t want to share the glory, but a second chair can prove invaluable in complex cases, cases with large amounts of evidence, or cases with large numbers of witnesses.  Here are three important issues you and your co-counsel should agree upon before adding a second chair to your trial:

1. Decide if your co-counsel will be an “active second” or a “silent second.” Active second chair attorneys question witnesses, cross-examine opposing witnesses, and may even present the opening statement or closing argument.  Silent second chair attorneys take notes, prepare exhibits, and wrangle witnesses outside of the courtroom.  If you and your second haven’t agreed upon what role they’re supposed to play before trial, your co-counsel will quickly become frustrated as the trial proceeds.

2. The first mate never publicly disagrees with the captain. You must present a unified front.  Jurors can see everything in the courtroom, so if there’s any disagreement between you and your second, at least one of the jurors will pick up on the disharmony.  When that happens, the jurors will start focusing on you, rather than your case.  Although you will ask for their opinions on case strategies or witness examination, your co-counsel needs to understand that your decisions will be the ultimate decisions in the case.  Any disagreements need to be voiced before trial, because once you step inside the courtroom, everyone on your team needs to be on the same page.

3. Only one lawyer may question a witness. A recent horror story I heard involved an experienced attorney and a less experienced second chair.  The lead defense attorney had fully prepared to cross-examine the prosecution’s star witness.  He was chomping at the bit, waiting for the opportunity to dissect this witness.  During direct examination, the witness mentioned something improper or irrelevant.  Before the lead defense attorney could say anything, his co-counsel leapt from his seat and objected.  The objection was sustained.  Unfortunately, since co-counsel had spoken during the witness’s testimony, the judge wouldn’t let any other lawyer speak during the witness’s testimony.  The second chair attorney was obligated to cross-examine the witness.  His cross-examination was a failure, and ultimately, his client was convicted.  The lesson?  Make sure you and your co-counsel agree upon who will be cross-examining each witness, or you could find yourself in a similar bind.

Even if you don’t want to have a second chair attorney with you for the entire trial, you should always have someone sit with you during the jury selection process.  Having someone else sit with you during jury selection frees you from your notes, allowing you to talk directly with the jurors.  More importantly, your second will pick up on interactions between the jurors that you may miss, such as when you’re talking with Juror #2 and don’t see Juror #22 on the other side of the room, who is vigorously shaking his head in disagreement.

Here’s the BAD NEWS: You can’t get your hands on a copy of The Complete Trial Lawyer System anymore.  Demand was so great that we completely ran out of physical inventory.  Every single copy has been shipped out, and since the binders are custom-made, we have no idea how long it will take before we can get our hands on any more copies.

But… if you’re serious about becoming a successful trial lawyer, I don’t want you to miss out on this system because we ran out of inventory.  That’s why I’m making the program available to you in a digital format.  You’ll get the entire manual, with more than 600 pages of pure content and 500+ simple secrets for winning cases, at a HUGE discount, nearly 65% OFF the regular investment.  It’s completely downloadable, so you’ll be able to start putting the tips to work immediately.

To sweeten the deal, you’re also going to get three hours of live CLE and training programs that I’ve presented in the last year:

This digital version won’t be around for long.  As soon as we re-stock our inventory with the physical items, the digital download version will be discontinued, and the price will be back up to $277.  If you want to master your trial skills AND save nearly 65% off the regular investment, you need to go now:

Click Here for Advanced Trial Advocacy Techniques

Working in the criminal court system, I’ve gotten the chance to learn all sorts of “interesting” things.  Over the years, I’ve discovered things that most people will never get the chance to learn.  For example, I know the best place to hide cocaine from the police (it’s called “crack” for a reason), I know what an autopsy smells like (think “wet garbage”), and I know three ways to avoid a D.U.I. (the best one?  Call a cab.)

But one of the most useful things I’ve  learned is how to break into houses.

Ideally, if you’re a house burglar, you want homeowners to leave the front door unlocked, so you can walk straight inside and take what you want.  All things considered, this is the absolute best way to break into a house, because you can do it without arousing too much suspicion.  But what happens when homeowners don’t cooperate by leaving the front door unlocked?  Does that mean the burglar can’t break into the house?  (“Dangit, the door’s locked!  I guess I’ll have to go get an honest job.”)  While some burglars might be dissuaded by a locked front door, good burglars know that there are lots of ways to get inside.  If the front door is locked, they’ll try to get inside through the back door, through a side door, through the garage, through a window…  Some burglars have even climbed down chimneys!

The important lesson you need to remember is this: It doesn’t matter to the burglars how they get inside the home — it only matters that they get inside.

You’re probably thinking, “Ok, that’s great, but how does that help me win my next trial?”

Here’s how that lesson helps you: The next time you attempt to admit exhibits into evidence, you need to think like a burglar.

“So I should break into my opponent’s office and steal his case file?”

No, nothing like that.  Thinking like a burglar means that it doesn’t matter how you get your exhibit admitted into evidence — it only matters that it gets admitted.

Recently I was helping a friend who needed to get a store surveillance tape admitted into evidence.  Unfortunately, there was a problem locating the convenience store clerk, and without her testimony, it looked like he wouldn’t be able to lay a proper predicate for the tape’s admissibility.

But just because the front door was locked didn’t mean there wasn’t another way to break into the house…

After a little bit of brainstorming, he came up with two additional ways to get the video admitted.  The first idea was to call the convenience store manager as a records custodian (because every single sales transaction was contemporaneously captured on tape) and introduce the video as a business record.  The second idea, which worked successfully, was to authenticate the tape through another witness, a woman who had walked out of the store before any of the events took place.  Although she hadn’t ever watched the videotape or physically handled the tape, she was able to identify herself walking into the store and successfully authenticated the video.

How many different ways can you admit your evidence?  Do you have a backup plan in case the judge excludes your evidence on one evidentiary ground?  Let’s say that you’re trying to admit a witness’s oral statement into evidence.  First, you try to argue that it fits into one of these hearsay exceptions:

1. A spontaneous statement;
2. An excited utterance;
3. A statement describing a then existing mental, emotional, or physical condition;
4. A statement for the purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment;
5. A statement against interest; or
6. A statement under belief of impending death.

If the judge doesn’t agree with any of those arguments, does that mean the jury won’t ever hear the statement?  Maybe, maybe not.  Think creatively, and you still might be able to get this statement before the jury.

Maybe the statement is independently admissible as the language of a contract?  Maybe the statement was relied upon by an expert in developing her opinion?  If your client heard the witness’s statement and acted accordingly, could you argue that the statement isn’t hearsay?  (“Judge, the witness’s statement isn’t being offered for the truth of the matter asserted.  It doesn’t matter whether or not the witness’s statement is true — it’s being offered to put my client’s actions in context and show why he did what he did.”)  Or maybe you could argue that the statement be admitted for a limited purpose.

But let’s say that after all of your efforts, the judge still decides, “That statement is inadmissible.”  Does that mean that the jury will never hear the statement?  Not necessarily.  If the witness testifies, maybe you could impeach the witness with the statement during cross-examination.  You could argue that the statement is a prior inconsistent statement, or that it shows bias or prejudice.

The most important thing to remember is, it doesn’t matter why the jury gets to hear the statement, so long as they get to hear it.  As Winston Churchill said, “Never give in.  Never give in.  Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.  Never yield to force.  Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”  Think creatively, and list every possible method you could use to make your exhibit admissible.

Most of the time, you probably won’t need to rely on more than a single argument to get your exhibit admitted.  But for those rare occasions when you need to go through the back door, through a window, or even down a chimney to get your exhibit admitted, you’ll be glad that you were so tenacious.

Your case theme can have a major impact on the jury.  When you develop a powerful case theme, you give the jurors a lens through which they will view the evidence in your case.  For example, in a rape case, one side might frame the case as the story of “a controlling man who refused to take ‘No’ for an answer and forcibly raped a young woman” while the other side says the case is about “a woman overcome by remorse and regret after a consensual one night stand.”

Depending on which case theme the jurors adopt, they will start looking for evidence that supports that viewpoint.  That’s why it’s so important to invest time developing your themes.  The better your theme “hooks” the jurors, the more likely you are to win.

Unfortunately, many trial lawyers never create strong themes for their cases.  They know they’re supposed to use themes, but they have no idea how to develop them, or even where to start looking for ideas, and so they never use them.  In this article, you’ll discover a great resource for developing case themes.

If you go to the movies on a regular basis, you probably see dozens of movie posters every year advertising the upcoming attractions.  Using splashy graphics, powerful images, and the draw of seeing your favorite celebrity, Hollywood does its best to grab your attention, spark your interest, and arouse your desire to go see the movie.  In addition to the imagery, however, they also use another powerful technique to promote the movie.  That technique is the use of a tagline.

A tagline is simply a short phrase or two that helps explain the movie.  A good tagline will resonate with the moviegoer, sticking in his head even after he walks away from the poster, and subtly push him to go see the movie.  Every once in a while, however, someone writes a great tagline, and it jumps to the forefront of our collective conscience.  Here are a few examples of great taglines:

• “In space, no one can hear you scream.” (Alien)
• “You’ll believe a man can fly.”  (Superman)
• “We are not alone.”  (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)

These types of taglines don’t write themselves.  Every year, Hollywood spends millions and millions of dollars promoting their films, hiring some of the best copywriters available to develop great taglines.  That’s great news for you, because you can develop some of these taglines into incredibly powerful case themes, without having to spend millions of dollars developing them.

In this article, you’ll find dozens of different taglines taken from movie posters and promotional pieces.  Read through them (or, better yet, read them aloud) while thinking about your case.  They’re not arranged in any particular order, and they’re not necessarily the best (or the worst) movies ever created, but they’ll serve as a great jumping-off point for writing your own themes.

• “The first casualty of war is innocence.”  (Platoon)
• “With great power comes great responsibility.”  (Spiderman)
• “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”  (Kill Bill)
• “Get ready to root for the bad guy.”  (Payback)
• “If Nancy doesn’t wake up screaming, she won’t wake up at all.” (Nightmare on Elm St.)
• “Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven.”  (A Clockwork Orange)
• “If you can’t be famous… Be infamous.”  (Chicago)
• “His whole life was a million-to-one shot.”  (Rocky)
• “His triumph changed the world forever.”  (Gandhi)
• “This time he’s fighting for his life.”  (First Blood)
• “He’s having the worst day of his life… over, and over…” (Groundhog Day)
• “It was the Deltas against the rules… the rules lost!” (Animal House)
• “There’s everything you’ve ever known about adventure, and then there’s The Abyss.”  (The Abyss)
• “The snobs against the slobs.”  (Caddyshack)
• “Every man dies.  Not every man really lives.”  (Braveheart)
• “If adventure has a name…  It must be Indiana Jones.” (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
• “Get in.  Get out.  Get even.”  (The Italian Job)
• “Just because they serve you doesn’t mean they like you.” (Clerks)
• “Somewhere, somehow, someone’s going to pay.”  (Commando)
  [Feel the alliteration?  Can you use similar repetitive word sounds?]
• “The truth is out there.”  (The X-Files)
• “There are degrees of truth.”  (Basic)
• “Lie.  Cheat.  Steal.  Rinse.  Repeat.” (Matchstick Men)
• “Four friends made a mistake that changed their lives forever.” (Sleepers)
  “When friendship runs deeper than blood.” (Sleepers)
• “Fifty million people watched, but no one saw a thing.”  (Quiz Show)
• “When he said ‘I do,’ he never said what he did.”  (True Lies)
• “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.”  (Shawshank Redemption)
• “Seen from a distance, it’s perfect.”  (Life as a House)
• “Not that it matters, but most of it is true.”  (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
• “Their only crime was curiosity.”  (Hackers)
• “His story will touch you, even though he can’t.”  (Edward Scissorhands)
• “There’s a good reason some talent remains undiscovered.” (Waiting for Guffman)
• “Everybody loved him…  Everybody disappeared.”  (Jerry Maguire)
• “He was never in time for his classes…  He wasn’t in time for his dinner…  Then one day he wasn’t in his time at all.” (Back to the Future)
  [Do you feel the power of the "3-peat"?  Is there a phrase you could repeat occasionally throughout your opening?]
• “Don’t answer the phone.  Don’t open the door.  Don’t try to escape.”  (Scream)
• “No one stays at the top forever.”  (Casino)
• “It’s a hot summer.  Ned Racine is waiting for something special to happen.  And when it does…  He won’t be ready for the consequences.”  (Body Heat)
• “Freedom is not given.  It is our right at birth.  But there are some moments when it must be taken.”  (Amistad)
• “United by hate, divided by truth.”  (American History X)
• “An outrageous story of greed, lust and vanity in America.” (Bonfire of the Vanities)
• “In the heat of passion two things can happen. The second is murder.”  (The Postman Always Rings Twice)
• “Every dream has a price.”  (Wall St.)
• “It’s not who he is underneath but what he does that defines him.”  (Batman Begins)
• “He didn’t come looking for trouble, but trouble came looking for him.”  (El Mariachi)
• “He’s out to prove he’s got nothing to prove.”  (Napoleon Dynamite)

Here are some more taglines pulled from lawyer movies:

• “The truth can be adjusted.”  (Michael Clayton)
• “Justice has its price.”  (A Civil Action)
• “Sooner or later a man who wears two faces forgets which one is real.”  (Primal Fear)
• “There have been many courtroom dramas that have glorified The Great American Legal System.  This is not one of them.” (My Cousin Vinny)
• “Power can be murder to resist.”  (The Firm)
  “They made him an offer he should have refused.”  (The Firm)
• “A district attorney out for a conviction.  A new lawyer out of her league.  A young boy who knew too much.”  (The Client)
• “No one would take on his case… until one man was willing to take on the system.”  (Philadelphia)
• “In the heart of the nation’s capital, in a courthouse of the U.S. government, one man will stop at nothing to keep his honor, and one will stop at nothing to find the truth.”  (A Few Good Men)
• “This man needs the best lawyer in town. But the problem is… he is the best lawyer in town.”   (…And Justice for All)
• “Sometimes it’s dangerous to presume.”  (Presumed Innocent)
  “Some people would kill for love.”  (Presumed Innocent)
• “The story of what four men did to a girl… And what the town did to them!”  (Town Without Pity)
• “Some people will do anything for money.”  (The Fortune Cookie)
  “Some people will do anything for $249,000.92.”  (The Fortune Cookie)
  [The first phrase is a common theme that all of your jurors have heard before, but the second phrase is more specific.  Does it feel more powerful hearing the actual number?]
• “Nothing matters more than winning.  Not even what you believe in.”  (The Candidate)
• “There are two sides of this mystery.  Murder…And Passion.”  (Jagged Edge)
• “An act of love, or an act of murder?”  (Body of Evidence)
  “This is the murder weapon. Her name is Rebecca.”  (Body of Evidence)
• “They locked him up. They crushed his spirit. But they couldn’t hide the truth.”  (Murder in the First)
• “You may not like what he does, but are you prepared to give up his right to do it?”  (People vs. Larry Flynt)
• “In a world of lies, nothing is more dangerous than the Truth.” (Shadow of Doubt)
• “The first scream was for help.  The second is for justice.”  (The Accused)
• “Suppose you picked up this morning’s newspaper and your life was a front page headline… And everything they said was accurate… But none of it was true.”  (Absence of Malice)
  [This is obviously an improper Golden Rule argument, but you could re-write it to focus the attention on your client]
• “On the other side of drinks, dinner and a one night stand, lies a terrifying love story.”  (Fatal Attraction)
• “Trials are too important to be decided by juries.”  (The Runaway Jury)
  [PLEASE don't use this one in court!!!]

Taglines, catch-phrases, and themes have a powerful persuasive effect in the courtroom.  Invest some time developing your case theme, and then try it out in public.  Don’t just tell your colleagues and assistants about the theme.  Share the theme with your friends and family.  Ask the checkout clerk at the grocery store what she thinks about it.  Ask your mechanic if the theme makes sense to him.  Tell it to your bartender or the person on the barstool next to you.  The important point is to refine your theme until it captures the essence of your case, giving the jurors a compelling lens through which to view the trial.  Continue refining your theme, and you’ll soon become the most persuasive trial lawyer in the courtroom!

If you frequently travel for business, you know the terrible feeling of arriving at your destination only to realize that you’ve left your toothbrush or razor at home.  That’s why people who regularly travel on little (or no) notice understand the importance of keeping a “travel kit” packed and ready to go.  In case you’ve never heard of a travel kit before, it’s a bag packed with all of the essential items you would need for a short business trip.

Your travel kit is probably similar to mine:

• Shampoo
• Deodorant
• Toothpaste
• Razor
• Shaving cream
• Fake ID’s, passports and/or visas issued under at least (3) different aliases
• $50,000 cash (typically in U.S. or Canadian dollars, Japanese yen, European euros, Russian rubles, and Swiss francs)
• (2) “clean” pre-paid cell phones (and chargers)
• Safe deposit box keys
• Access codes to safe houses
• Swiss bank account access codes
• Laminated list of non-extradition countries
• Hair dye and fake moustache
• (2) pair black socks
• Q-Tips
• Toothbrush
• Etc.

Having a well-stocked travel kit like this can be a real lifesaver.  It not only simplifies your packing, but it also sets your mind at ease because you know that you can head out the door without worrying that you’ve forgotten an essential item.

Far more important than your travel kit, however, is your “trial kit.”  A trial kit  contains all the essential items you’ll need during trial.  The items in your trial kit will vary depending on what types of cases you normally try, but here are a few recommendations to help get you started:

• Measuring tape. Distances are often an essential element of a case.  (“How close were the cars?”  “How far away was the witness?”  “How tall was the attacker?”)  If you have a measuring tape with you, you can put those distances “on the record.”
• Stopwatch. Another common issue is time.  (“You said the light just turned red.  How much time passed before the defendant ran the light and darted into the intersection?”)  Using a stopwatch can prevent witnesses from haphazardly guessing at the passage of time and lock them into definite time frames.
• Magic markers. Almost every courtroom has an easel and a flip chart, but surprisingly few of them actually have magic markers.  For some reason, they just seem to vanish.  Keeping a supply of magic markers in multiple colors (at a minimum: red, black, and blue) will let you summarize points for the jury or allow witnesses to clarify something by drawing or diagramming it.
• Highlighters. Want to draw a witness’s attention to a specific section of a transcript or written statement?  Highlighting the relevant section makes it much easier to limit their focus or show them which portion they should read aloud.
• A/V cords and power cords. The world’s best computer simulation is useless if you can’t show it to the jurors.  Make sure you’ve got the right cables to connect your computer to the court’s projection system and an extension cord in case the power outlets are too far from your equipment.
• Law books. It’s almost a guarantee: During the trial, someone will have a question about jury instructions, rules of procedure, or an evidentiary issue.  Luckily, you’ll have the answers handy because you’ll pack copies of the rules of court and the evidence code in your trial kit.
• Sustenance. Trials can take a lot out of you.  Pack a few bottles of water to keep your throat clear and some energy bars to maintain your energy throughout the day.
• Cash. (No, it’s not for bribing jurors or judges!)  Keep $10 worth of quarters in your trial kit.  You’ll be surprised at how often you need it to feed a parking meter, let someone use a pay phone, or to buy your “express lunch” of Diet Dr Pepper and pretzels at the vending machines.
• Aspirin. If you have it, you won’t need it.  But if you don’t have it, you’ll wish you did!
• Tissues. Do your cases deal with emotional issues?  Be prepared to let witnesses wipe away their tears on something besides their shirt sleeves.
• Pointers. Normally, when you ask witnesses to identify a specific section of a map or diagram, they will reach across the exhibit and point with their fingers or with a pen, completely blocking the jury’s view of the exhibit.  To avoid this problem, keep a laser pointer and an expandable pointer in your kit.

Obviously, this list only scratches the surface of what you’ll actually bring to trial, but at least it will get you thinking about the essential items you should pack.  Don’t make the mistake of waiting until the eve of trial to start packing your trial kit.  The closer you get to trial, the more cluttered your mind will become with last-minute issues and problems.  Just like packing for a trip, if you wait until the night before, you’ll probably forget an essential item.  Instead, prepare your trial kitnow, while your mind is calm, and you can be guaranteed that you’ll have everything you need when you get to court.