Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips

BASIC CROSS EXAMINATION PRINCIPLES There are some fundamental principles of cross examination that should be observed in most situations. These include the following: Make big points and ignore the details There is nothing more boring that a detailed, technical minute point by technical point in cross examination. Make your point a broad one without a lot of irrelevant details. Stick with big obvious points that the jury will see and understand without having to follow a lot of detailed information….

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The Spence Trial College conducts regional seminars around the country. At this year’s regional seminar in Washington,the topic was cross examination. The college approach involves: (1) role reversal: Become the witness; identify what the witness is afraid of/devoted to/motivated by and why (2) What is the story that advances your case? Determine what story you want told by: witnesses, client, experts and the juror’s story as well as the universal story. My talk affirmed this approach and consisted of these…

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Larry Pozner and Roger Dodd have written a book, Cross-Examination: Science and Techniques which is an excellent source for cross examination ideas. They recommend breaking the cross examination into individual topics which they call chapters. Each chapter is devoted to a particular subject or point. Each chapter should have a specific goal to establish a helpful fact or renew the theme of the case.What are the goals of cross examination? I believe the broad goals are to undermine your opponent’s…

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