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Month: December 2015

GERRY SPENCE WITNESS EXAMINATION EXCERPTS

GERRY SPENCE WITNESS EXAMINATION EXCERPTS

 In 1985, a man was shot dead on a rural road in Lincoln County, Ore. A teenage boy and his mother were indicted for the crime. Gerry Spence took on both cases for the defense pro bono and faced off against a young prosecutor named Joshua Marquis in the juvenile’s trial; the attorneys did not take a shine to each other. So contentious was the trial that they both ended up before the Oregon State Bar. A special report in…

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PRELIMINARY OUTLINE FOR ARGUMENT

PRELIMINARY OUTLINE FOR ARGUMENT

I am not sure how much help, if any, my rough notes for  argument in a brain injury case where the defense admitted liability would be to you, but I thought it might illustrate one way to frame the basics for the liability argument. Here it is for whatever use it might be on notes for argument. OUTLINE  A.USE AS ILLUSTRATIONS: JURY VERDICT FORM NON ISSUE LIST  JURY INSTRUCTIONS  (1)        ISSUES IN CASE  (Inst No._____) (2)        CONCEEDED FAULT (Inst No._____)…

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WORKING WITH EXPERT WITNESSES

WORKING WITH EXPERT WITNESSES

Last week I spoke at the Washington State Association for Justice seminar. When I retired I had decided not to give talks in the future since I wasn’t practicing law. The exception I made was for the Inner Circle of Advocates convention because of my long association and past presidency of that organization. When my longtime friend William Bailey asked me to please speak at last week’s convention that he was conducting with Seattle lawyer Rebecca Rowe I agreed because…

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