Here are some more very basic concepts about good communication. There is nothing profound here, but thoughts that we need to remind ourselves about as it is easy to fall back into "lawyer" thinking and talking. ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THE JURORS ARE ASKING THEMSELVES Think like a juror. What is it the person in the jury box really wants to know? They want to know the answer to some of these questions they are asking themselves What happened? What does…
Recently there was an email discussion among good plaintiff lawyer about whether you tell the jury how much you are asking in jury selection or wait until final argument. Some cited David Ball and said they tell the jury how much they are asking for and some said they are concerned about doing that. Here was my response. It’s an important question and there is no solid agreement in spite of Ball’s suggestion. My approach is this. In a lot of…
I’ve been involved in the Wyoming Spence Trial College from the day it first began because I believe in Gerry’s concept about teaching lawyers how to be great trial lawyers. I read the publication Warrior each month looking for new ideas. This month the issue was devoted to criminal defense and capital defense work. I didn’t think there would be much in that issue that would benefit me in my civil damage work, but I was wrong. One example was…