Ask for What You Want
How many times a day do you ask judges, clients, or co-workers to do something or to give you something? During any given week, you probably make hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of requests. You ask your co-worker to work on a project, you ask your assistant to handle a client issue, you ask your kids to help with the dishes… The number of requests that you make each week is staggering. But how many of those requests are actually granted? Have you ever had a problem with someone not doing not what...
Read MoreWhich Jurors are Lying to You?
How honest are your potential jurors? I don’t know about you, but in the past, I’ve seen more than my fair share jurors who lie. And the sad part is, there doesn’t seem to be any guaranteed way to catch them. In a two week span, I selected juries for five different cases. And in almost every single case, at least one juror lied to me, my opponent, or the court. In criminal cases, one of the issues we almost always inquire about is whether any of the jurors have ever been...
Read MoreExhibits and Adverse Witnesses
Yesterday I was watching the Casey Anthony case and I saw a classic example of what you’d call an “antagonistic” witnesss. During opening statements, the defense attorney accused the defendant’s father of sexually molesting her when she was 8 years old and said that the father was involved in covering up the death of his 3 year old grand daughter. As you can imagine, the father wasn’t too happy about it. Now, one day later, the father is on the witness stand (for the second time)...
Read MoreDealing with a Witness’s Baggage
You’ve got a problem. A big problem. Your witness has some fantastic information that is going to put your case over the top. Unfortunately, he’s also going to bring some pretty significant baggage with him to the witness stand. It might be a conviction for perjury, perhaps a damning prior conviction, or maybe he’s even placed a $100,000 bet riding on the outcome of the case — whatever the baggage is, it’s bad. So… what are you going to do? Are you going to bury your...
Read MoreAsking for help… the right way
Every day, in courtrooms across the country, young attorneys are conducting brilliant examinations. During direct examination, they’re asking questions that grab the factfinder’s attention, paint a vivid picture of the scene, and elicit facts that persuade judges and jurors to believe the witness’s version of events. During cross-examination, they’re pinning witnesses down on inconsistencies, impeaching witnesses’ credibility, and showing jurors why the witnesses’...
Read More