Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips

HOW TO PREPARE DIRECT WITNESS EXAMINATION

November 20, 2018 Paul Luvera Comments 0 Comment

Examining witnesses looks easy on television and in the movies. Whether direct or cross examination, on television & the movies, it is always brief, entertaining and totally successful. It always looks so easy, until you do it in a court room with a real live witness. Your well-planned cross examination can unexpectedly not be the examination you had in mind when you started. Direct examination can be as much a challenge as well. That’s the real world for trial lawyers…

CROSS EXAMINATION THOUGHTS WORTH CONSIDERING

November 5, 2018 Paul Luvera Comments 0 Comment

While a lot has been written about the subject of cross-examination, it is a difficult subject that deserves our attention. Here are some observations that are not particularly original nor profound, but perhaps worth considering when preparing for cross examination. In April 1988 the United press published an article about a skydiver in Lewisburg, North Carolina who died while parachuting. The article said: “A veteran sky diver, who fell 10,500 feet to his death, apparently forgot to wear a parachute in his excitement to film other skydivers,…

MAKE YOUR POINT IN THIRTY SECONDS

October 21, 2018 Paul Luvera Comments 0 Comment

In 1990 Milo Frank wrote a book How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less. I read it when it was first published. I felt then and feel now that it is an excellent source of advice about something trial lawyers need to learn – simplicity and brevity. Paraphrasing generally, Frank advises first, that the average attention span of an individual is about 30 seconds. He notes that almost all TV commercials are 30 seconds. As he says, the one…