Today I’m sharing an excerpt of my cross examination of one of the medical experts the defense called in my last trial. I am sorry the format is not perfect, but transferring it from the transcript to here was a problem. The reason I am showing you this is because it is an example of what I would call a “soft cross examination” of a defense expert on a collateral attack. The point is to demonstrate his bias and lack…
The American Journal of Trial Advocacy is published by the Cumberland school of law, Samford University. I highly recommend the publication for plaintiff trial lawyers. The subscription is a modest $24 per year: Contact them at jtrialad@samford.edu. The summer 2013 issue has an article by Edward D. Ohlaum “Authentic Advocacy: Lawyering with Character.” Some of his observations I thought repeating were these. Aristotle taught that there were three means of effecting persuasion. “The man who is to be in command…
Edward Burkley and Darshon Anderson published an informative article “Using the Science of Persuasion in the Courtroom” in Persuasion Research. Among the research conclusions they discussed where these. Research showed that if people who are asked to think of reasons to support a position and have difficulty generating ways to do so, they are likely to perceive the idea as a bad idea. Therefore, the authors say, by asking the jury to think of some ways (no more than three…