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Month: March 2014

MUSINGS ABOUT BEING A TRIAL LAWYER

MUSINGS ABOUT BEING A TRIAL LAWYER

Poulsbo is a quaint town of about 9500 people and a drive of about one hour and a half from Seattle. It’s a Scandinavian seaport fishing town located right on the salt water. In 1983 I received the “Small Town Lawyer Made Good” award from the Poulsbo Bar Association. The award was the brainchild of  Paulsbo lawyer Jeff Tolman. As I recall, the Poulsbo Bar Association had approximately 13 members at the time. However, Jeff had created this award and then…

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CROSS EXAMINATION IDEAS

CROSS EXAMINATION IDEAS

Have you thought about what the possible objectives are in cross examination? Often times we have not thought out the possible avenues we could take in cross examining a witness. Here for example are some of the objectives one might have in cross examination: To establish the witness is not telling the truth on one or more material points. To show that the witness is biased and has a motive for coloring the testimony. To show that the testimony is improbable….

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WHY DON’T WE GET RID OF “DUMBASSED JURORS”?

WHY DON’T WE GET RID OF “DUMBASSED JURORS”?

I received this Email from someone whose address was: bob bdifalco@yahoo.com about my post regarding jury selection. He said: “Lawyers ought to spend their time getting rid of all juries, and hyping up judges so are adequate without dumbassd jurors.” < When the constitution of this country was being debated jury trial was seen as an essential and far reaching civil right. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence and wrote the Constitution provided for three separate provisions in…

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