They say the jury trial lawyer is a dying breed. I disagree.
We think he killed that guy and he is super guilty but we agree with his lawyer there is reasonable doubt. I mean, his lawyer never told us the guy didn’t do it either so he probably did it, but…
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Everyone talks about witness credibility. We learn about it in school during trial advocacy class. We hear about it during just about every closing argument. We have jury instructions describing how the jury should weigh it. And while witness credibility…
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For whatever reason we trial lawyers love impeachment. When the witness says something that is inconsistent with what he or she said in a prior statement we can’t wait to crush him or her in front of the jury. Maybe…
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Most courtrooms across the nation are cramped with desks, chairs, and some even have columns cutting right through the well. Because of this we get used to always having one or two jurors during jury selection that we can’t really…
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You may be a good trial lawyer. You may even be a great trial lawyer. People may know you. The prosecution may respect you. Insurance companies may be afraid of you. That’s great, but the jury doesn’t care. The jury…
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In every jury selection you have bad jurors–jurors you don’t like. Usually you are able to challenge these people for cause with questions that go to the heart of your case. But sometimes you have jurors that you know are…
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Many times as lawyers in trial we get caught up on what the other side is going to say. We may even worry so much about it that we end up presenting our trial story in a way that responds…
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While there are unlimited stories to be told in a criminal case, there is only a handful of criminal defense theories. Some Other Guy/Gal Did It This criminal defense theory is pretty self-explanatory. What the witnesses are saying is true…
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Many times we go into jury selection thinking that it is just a conversation. Because of this we sometimes do not spend enough time thinking about what words we will use. After all, we have been having conversations with each other since…
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In the real estate world it is all about location, location, location. In the trial world, it is all about demeanor. Demeanor let’s a jury know that you think someone is lying without you having to call the witness a…
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