No matter what our level of experience, the use of reminder outlines should be part of our trial preparations. Commercisl pilots, with hundred hours of experience use checklists before flying the aircraft. Checklists serve not only as reminders, but allow us to have a basis for improvement. The checklist need not be detailed, but it should have the basic topics to cover. By keeping the outline on file you can use it in the future as well as serving as…
When we represent people with brain injury it takes a lot of time, factual inquiry and thought in deciding how to present the damage evidence at trial. The most difficult question is what to ask a client who is capable of testifying. In general, my belief was that with major injury cases “less was more” because major injuries generally speak for themselves and don’t need a lot of detail which might make jurors feel you are playing for their sympathy. Once…
We are still in trial so I have limited time to share with you this week, but here is a simple outline I used during the trial for a treating doctor. I’ve omitted a lot of references to the hospital records and exhibits I used during the examination. I revised a portion of it to make it appropriate for sharing. Also, this is for a physician who first saw the plaintiff in the hospital. DIRECT EXAM OF TREATING DOCTOR WHY WITNESS (Note: The…