This may seem like a really obvious maxim, but I just saw it violated in the worst way. I was summoned for jury service and sitting in the voir dire panel in court when the judge asked the lawyers to introduce themselves and their clients. What did the plaintiff’s lawyer

Before you take the first deposition in your next case, you need to spend time doing something that most lawyers never do. You need to decide what is the best order to take the depositions. Do you want to develop your case from the ground up, or from the top

Harper Lee wrote in To Kill a Mockingbird, The only place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box. Voir dire is the selection process

One of the greatest mistakes a lawyer can make is to save his best argument for the closing argument. It is too late then because the jurors have almost always already made up their minds. Remember, at least 80 percent of jurors come to a decision “during or immediately after

Ronald H. Clark and Thomas M. O'Toole have written a masterful textbook on how to pick a jury so you can win: Jury Selection Handbook. The authors' expertise is a perfect combination for such a book. O'Toole brings his wisdom as a jury consultant, and Clark shares his extensive teaching

In a previous blog, I discussed the greatest myth of cross-examination. It is the myth created by the old Perry Mason television show and continued by Hollywood that causes young lawyers to feel needlessly petrified of cross-examination whether it is at trial or a deposition. The lawyers’ fear comes from

It would be naive to think that juries have the final say. Win or lose, an appeal to a higher court is in the back of every trial lawyer’s mind. If the issue on appeal is a close one, the appellate court grants the attorneys a hearing to argue their

In contrast to a few decades ago when trials were common, studies show that over 90 percent of all lawsuits are settled before trial. For those cases that settle, the deposition is very often the event that becomes the turning point. It is the time when you cause the opposing

One of the worst strategies on cross-examination is to make subtle points with the “brilliant” idea that you will tie everything together in closing. I have read about this principle and heard it taught at CLE so many times that it makes my blood boil. It is a widely accepted

Cross-examination occurs after the attorney who has called the witness to trial has asked her questions, (direct examination). While I believe direct examination is the most difficult part of a trial, cross-examination is the scariest. How do you prove to the jury that the witness who has just helped the