General and Particular Techniques for Answering Questions during Trial Testimony

General and Particular Techniques for Answering Questions during Trial Testimony

No matter how long a trial is, many participants are anxious for it to end. The jurors want to go home for obvious reasons, the attorneys and clients have had their fill of it as well, and the professionals just want to testify, go home, and get past the pressure. frequently, the judge imposes deadlines on the attorneys for the duration of the trial as a whole and the testimonial time of the witnesses.

Trial testimony could be as little as 15 minutes or as much as an hour or two. Do not be misled into thinking that trial testimony will take anywhere near as much time as did your deposition.

My best single piece of advice to you is: Listen. Listen. Listen to the question. If you do not hear the question fully, or if you do not understand the question completely, how can you answer it effectively and correctly?

My guidance about answering questions still applies. understanding and following that guidance is even more urgent now. Your answers have to be on target. You must answer the question directly and only the precise question that is asked. If you answer each question with as short a reply as possible, it helps to protect you and to move the proceedings along. In addition, the jurors will more likely be able to follow your answer. Shorter sentences are easier to know, and help the jurors to more easily stay connected to your line of thought.

Remember that you are not talking to colleagues or to students in a graduate class. You are talking to a group of random people, some of whom may not have even gone to high school. Sentences with simple words are best. Your answers should not contain acronyms and special terminology from your specialty. If you do use them, take a moment to explain it to the jurors. Opposing attorneys occasionally purposely use these technical terms because they want you to lose the jurors' attention. When an attorney uses an acronym or other technical term in a question, do not just respond by answering his question with the term in it. Take a moment before answering the question to describe the term to the jury. Then, you can go ahead and answer the rest of the question. Remember simple English. Remember that you want to keep the jurors attentive to you.

If you have to look over a document at the request of an lawyer, do not talk while you are looking at it. When you are ready to talk again, look up from the document and look over at the jurors.

In my experience, jurors stay attentive when I use simple metaphors, simple analogies, simple examples, and simple visual exhibits. I emphasize the adjective simple here, because you can always explain complicated things in simple ways. Do not make the mistake of thinking that your science, technology, or special specialty requires a complex explanation.

Students in a classroom may ask you detailed questions that require technically precise explanations. In the judicial setting, people just want to know. They just want to "get the idea." In this situation, simplicity means clarity. If you can convey the essence of an opinion to the other people in the room with a simple word or analogy, you have done your job. You will have kept their attention, and you will have explained it well enough to have been convincing.

POST COMMENT

The G-Spot Orgasm Technique Technology Behind Relocatable Buildings Starcraft 2 Guides that Offer Starcraft 2 Advanced Strategies and Techniques The Science of Feng Shui Applied on Water Fountains Biosphere Process Gasification Technology Some Common Premature Early Ejaculation Techniques Duties of a Surgical Technologist How To Prevent Premature Early Ejaculation Using 7 Proven Techniques Biodetection Technologies 5th Edition - Technological Response To Biological Threats ---- Aarkstore Convert Jpeg To Text use The Ultimate Ocr Technology 3 Techniques You Must Master to Whip Prospects Into a Buying Frenzy Research Paper On Social Science Rectangular Cooling Tower- Premium Cooling Tower Technology