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Author: Paul Luvera

Luvera practiced plaintiff law 55 years. He is past President of the Inner Circle of Advocates & Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. Member ABOTA, American College of Trial Lawyers, International Academy, International Society of Barristers and the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. Book Luvera on Advocacy available at Trial Guides Publishing Email paul@luvera.org
BIAS & PROSPECTIVE JURORS

BIAS & PROSPECTIVE JURORS

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I have long been a fan of the website The Jury Expert:  http://www.thejuryexpert.com/  One of the research papers it has published is: “The Ubiquitous Practice of ‘Prehabilitation’ Leads Prospective Jurors to Conceal Their Biases.” authored by Mykol Hamilton, Emily Lindon, Madeline Pitt, and Emily Robbins from Centre College. This article explores juror bias and focuses on the effect of efforts to emphasize the significance of  lack of bias by the judge and attorneys. It primarily examines the effectiveness of the emphasis on…

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VOIR DIRE WHEN THE TIME IS LIMITED

VOIR DIRE WHEN THE TIME IS LIMITED

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I have taught at the Spence Trial College and written in this blog about the approach Gerry Spence advocates in jury selection. https://plaintifftriallawyertips.com/gerry-spence-voir-dire-questions  It can be roughly summarized as focused on building rapport through open, nonjudgmental discussion. It is not closed ended questions intended to dictate ideas. They focus on how the juror feels about subjects after he has first shared how he feels. Here is an example from Spence’s last civil case in Iowa: Now let me ask you…

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A CROSS EXAMINATION SUGGESTION

A CROSS EXAMINATION SUGGESTION

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We all have our own way of preparing for cross examination and for the style we adopt during the process. I thought I’d reprint a section of part of a cross examination preparation from a drug company products case to give you an general idea  of one of the steps I take in preparing for cross examination. This would represent part of a whole examination and would be part of the preparation. The actual cross examination could end up in outline…

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