Understanding how jurors experience your case is a skill—and it can be learned. Some lawyers seem to have a special ability when they walk into a courtroom. Jurors listen to them. Complicated facts become understandable. Witnesses seem more human. Important evidence feels important. And somehow, by the end of the case, the jury sees the case much the way the lawyer hoped they would. What are these lawyers doing differently? One quality I’ve observed in lawyers who are particularly effective …
Knowing Your Case Isn’t Enough
There is a point in almost every significant piece of litigation when the lawyers know the case extraordinarily well. They know the documents. They know the depositions. They know which witnesses are helpful and which ones make them nervous. They know every inconsistency in the opposing witnesses’ testimony. They know the applicable law, the procedural history and where virtually every important piece of evidence can be found. That’s necessary. But it isn’t enough. Over the years, I have worked with …
