Closing Arguments: Focus and Organization
Closing Argument: Opportunity and Challenge
How to Make Clear, Quick and Effective Objections
More on Cross-Examination: Building a Case Brick by Brick
Podcast - Cross-Examination: Don't Ask One Question Too Many
Podcast - The Ten Commandments of Cross-Examination
Podcast - Refresh vs. Impeach: Know the Difference
Podcast - Impeaching with a Deposition
Podcast - Cross-Examination of Expert Witnesses
Cross-Examination: The Three C’s of Impeachment
Cross-Examination: How to Effectively Impeach with a Prior Inconsistent Statement
Cross-Examination: Finding Control
Podcast - Cross-Examination: Don't Argue - Elicit Facts
Cross-Examination: Asking the Right Leading Questions
Podcast - Cross-Examination: The Importance of Organization
Work This Way: A Labor & Employment Law Podcast - Episode 20: Tips for Court Cases with Judge Dennis and Judge Wilkins of Maynard Nexsen
Understanding When to Cross-Examine
Podcast - Cross-Examination: Basic Approaches
The "Why" of Cross-Examination
Basic Points to Consider in Redirect Examination
David F. Johnson co-authored a paper entitled “Voir Dire (In a Post Covid World)” with Jason Smith of the Law Offices of Jason Smith for the State Bar of Texas’s Business Disputes Course, held in Austin, Texas, on September...more
It is 2022 and we are ready to be back in the courtroom. For the past two years, most civil trials have come to a grinding halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, lawyers, judges and litigants alike are eager to return to...more
The American civil jury trial was on life support before the pandemic. For a generation at least, the trend has been toward a reduced scope for a jury’s decision, an expansion in the power of judges to resolve things in...more
With mounting frustration over the duration and human cost of the Coronavirus pandemic, along with the sluggish pace of vaccinations in many parts of the country, President Joe Biden, this past week, threw down the gauntlet...more
As courts across the country begin resuming jury trials, litigators returning to in-person proceedings must be prepared for the myriad logistical considerations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic — from mask-wearing and...more
Jury trials are among the last pieces of the judicial system to undergo a virtual transformation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although some aspects of jury trials will never be replicated online — for example, the...more
The legal community’s forced apprenticeship with remote technology during the COVID-19 pandemic changed, almost overnight, how litigation is conducted in the United States. From mundane interactions like client meetings to...more
For trial lawyers, there is a great deal of lore on the kinds of jurors you would want for particular cases. While some attorneys will focus on traits like gender, age, or occupation, the smarter course, in my view, is to...more
In mid-June, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore appointed the Commission to Reimagine the Future of New York’s Courts, and charged it with examining technological, regulatory, and other long-term innovations for New York Courts. ...more
Experienced trial attorneys know that jurors are not interchangeable empty vessels. Each juror enters the jury box with a wide range of experiences, beliefs and attitudes, and may be more or less inclined toward reaching a...more
The English Disclosure Pilot is into its home straight. The global pandemic has delayed (amongst other things) the report of the official pilot monitor, Professor Rachael Mulheron. To fill the void many practitioners are...more
Take a moment and visualize what your next in-person jury trial might look like. The jurors arrive at the courthouse and have their temperature checked while being asked whether they or anyone in their household have been...more
As American society copes with the COVID-19 pandemic, masks and face coverings have become the focus of legal mandates, political protests, and nonstop commentary—in some instances, even violence. But beyond the public health...more
Might a fear-based strategy have greater purchase in the present pandemic climate? People are certainly feeling scared and vulnerable these days. Even as states begin to relax the coronavirus stay-at-home restrictions, the...more
The Coronavirus is exaggerated, the fatality numbers are being cooked, and the media is just hyping the crisis for political reasons. The treatments are being kept from us, and the quarantine is just a dry run for an upcoming...more
The state of New York is one of the biggest epicenters for the coronavirus illness in the United States. What has become a ritual within many states, and at the White House level as well, is the “Daily Briefing.” All of the...more
As we previously observed, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has created substantial disruption and uncertainty with respect to civil litigation management. Since we last reported on March 19, 2020, federal and...more
Those of us who work in trial preparation and case assessment are in a remarkable new reality as trials across the country are on indefinite hold. Unlike some past natural disasters and economic disruptions, the one is not...more
Okay, show of hands: Two weeks ago, how many of you were familiar with Zoom, Webex, GotoMeeting, and/or MS Teams? And how many of you are familiar with them today? These tools for multi-party videoconferencing over the...more
Most of us are now entering our second week, or longer, of isolation to maintain social distance, limit transmission, and help “flatten the curve” of the current Coronavirus pandemic. For lawyers, of course, that generally...more
One after another, like dominos, court systems are shutting down or moving to drastic restrictions. In the process, court dates are being pulled and cases are moving into limbo. As that happens to your own once trial-bound...more
As the Coronavirus spreads, and mock trials are being rescheduled, many courts are restricting operations or shutting down completely, and people are rapidly adapting to a new normal of restricted events and “social...more