We are still in our jury trial in Seattle which doesn’t leave much time to keep this blog as current as I would like. But, this week I’d like to share some thoughts about how we view life as trial lawyers. Some of this directly does apply to trying cases and some of it is general advice about our attitudes about life. The late Ann Landers printed these “tips for life” one time in her advice column: 1. When you…
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…
When analyzing what the demeanor of the plaintiff trial lawyer should be during trial, one should keep in mind how jurors and judges arrive at their viewpoints, opinions and verdicts. Research and functional magnetic resonance imaging has confirmed the majority of our decisional thought processing goes on at a subconscious level. Our impressions and decisions are not logical, but rather a process that occurs without our conscious involvement and at an unconscious level. However, these subconscious conclusions are always rationalized…