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
Like the continuing need to have a ‘pocket mask’ in many places, the online judicial meeting or hearing has become an accepted fact of almost-post-pandemic life. But, chances are, the remote hearing will last longer (knock on...more
As courts continue their uncertain transition from a Covid to a post-Covid stance, the word from many is that the Zoom hearing is the pandemic adaptation that is most likely to become a normal feature of litigation going...more
With Zoom now as common as email, we can find ourselves inhabiting the four corners of a glowing screen more often than we’re inhabiting an actual office or meeting room. Status calls, strategy meetings, witness preparation...more
Courts over the past year and a half have moved with unprecedented speed into unorthodox territory, exploring ways to conduct trials, or portions of trials, via remote videoconferencing technology. In that setting, perhaps it...more
When you’re dealing with testimony, argument, or any other form of communication, it is easy to assume that you’re getting less when it is distanced. In a remote conference or any Zoom-like experience, it seems that the...more
As the 2021 pandemic year winds to a close, while the 2022 pandemic year waits in the wings, it may be a good time to take stock of changes in legal procedure brought by the pandemic. Given the persistence of needed social...more
Even as things are fitfully returning to a post-pandemic normal (perhaps against the current COVID Omicron variant-driven medical advice) one feature of the last 21 months seems to be lingering: the Zoom conference. In legal...more
For a while, we seemed headed toward resuming in-person jury trials here in Travis County. A few live trials took place under the civil district judges’ pilot program, including a two-week proceeding before Judge Amy Clark...more
Arizona may not be the model when it comes to partisan post-election audits. But when it comes to online or virtual trials, the “Cyber Ninjas” in that context seem to be doing much better. In the Grand Canyon state’s most...more
The jurors assemble and begin watching the trial — not the actual jurors but the shadow jurors, the ones who are recruited by one side, matched to the real jurors, and offer feedback on the trial as it comes in. They watch...more
During the past year or so, when clients have scheduled witness meetings or focus group and mock trial research, we will at some point get to the common question: “So, are we doing this in person or online?” Increasingly, it...more
The courtroom is a special place, and there are both symbolic and substantive layers to that special status. At the symbolic layer, there are the physical trappings of the courtroom: dark wood, granite, columns, raised...more
There are two theories fighting it out over what will happen once the pandemic fades. The first, — I’ll call it the “blip theory” — posits that we will simply go back to normal pre-pandemic times, with the lockdown’s...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
With the extended pandemic restrictions and the resulting court backlogs across the country, we have moved tentatively into the world of online trials and hearings, with participants joining from different locations. In that...more
The courtroom trial is one setting where lawyers feel they can sometimes dial up the dramatic delivery. In the hands of some, that liberty can lead to an overbearing style. One question with the newer Zoom environments is...more
It has gone from being a surprising observation last spring to a daily truism at this point: Zoom fatigue is real. Now that we are engaged in regular meetings by video web-conferencing, we’ve come to fully grasp the reality...more
At this point, I will wager that we’ve all seen the hilarious video from the 394th Judicial District Court of Texas, where an attorney, unable to remove a filter that changes his face into a cat’s, nonetheless confirms that...more
It was just about a year ago that we all started hearing about a novel virus originating in China. A few months later, as American courts ground to a halt, or moved forward haltingly, it started to create the backlog of cases...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
As we are moving up yet another hill on the pandemic case-count rollercoaster, hopefully the last rise before the final descent into a vaccine landing zone, courts are once again pulling back in–person trials, while lawyers...more
A couple of months ago, I helped to run the Online Courtroom Project’s demonstration jury trial using Zoom. Like a number of other experiments and actual trials going forward across the country, jurors showed up via laptop...more
Here is a scenario that might be playing out in various forms around the country: A judge looks at her increasingly crowded docket during the coronavirus pandemic and thinks, “Well, I’m doing professional meetings on Zoom...more
So you’re conducting a deposition or cross-examination: Where is the witness? Are they right there in the room with you, or are they many miles away in a room with their computer? With the pandemic still raging across the...more
The Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County held Florida’s first “remote trial.” Jury selection was conducted remotely through Zoom, and the actual trial occurred in the courtroom with social distancing and masks. This...more