Here’s a quotation from Brian Moriarty’s article on the importance of direct examination from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly: 

“If you can’t persuade the jury on your own case-in-chief, it is extremely unlikely that you are going to persuade the jury through cross-examination — no matter how brilliant. If you don’t succeed in persuading the jury through your direct examination of your witnesses that you are right and you deserve to win, then, quite simply, you will lose.”

Follow this link to read the rest of his direct examination article.