That requires an essentially simple theme no matter how complex that evidence may be. When they finally retire to the jury room, they have heard two or more sides battle for days or weeks and should be ale to understand the theory of your case despite that. Recall that a jury normally takes no notes of the days of testimony and after days or weeks of testimony, only have a general recollection of the witness statements. It is the task of your trial counsel to prove that story. A judge or jury should be able to understand your story in a few sentences. OVERALL THEME OF THE TRIAL AND THE BASICS OF PREPARATION:Ī case well presented tells a story. A jury trial that will require fifty thousand dollars to prepare is likely to cost thirty thousand dollars or less to prepare if going to arbitration. While arbitrations and mediations require many of the same steps as a trial, certain steps (jury instructions, opening and closing to the jury, preparation of testimony for a jury rather than an arbitrator, etc.) are removed and the entire process is both simplified and less expensive. The various complex strategic ponderings of counsel, the preparation of jury instructions, etc, which require much attorney or paralegal time but little direct client involvement shall be mentioned but not in detail. Further, this article shall concentrate on the steps that are to be taken that directly involve the client. This article shall assume the reader has already read that basic article American Litigation and is familiar with the basic steps in the actual trial and in discovery before trial. Precisely what has to be done that is so important and time consuming? This article shall answer that most basic question most clients pose when advised that trial is approaching and life is about to become very different than previously. To fail to prepare adequately is to greatly increase the chance for defeat. While that is perhaps an extreme case, the fact remains that every one involved must gear up as trial approaches and most cases are won or lost on which side commits completely to full and all pervasive preparation. Each day, every day I was immersed in preparing for court. As one client put it, “My business became your business as we came close to trial. Put simply, perhaps half of the total cost of most cases is expended in the last thirty days before trial, not only in terms of what the lawyer and the hired experts charge, but in the time that must be expended by the client in trial preparation. The reasons are myriad but two that almost always predominate are the uncertainty of the outcome when one goes to actual verdict (since no lawyer can ever tell a client honestly that the case cannot be lost) and the massive expense and emotional stress of the last month before trial. A brief muttering from the judge on a key issue of law, a failure of a lawyer to ask the right question can turn the tide and a casual observer would not notice a thing. Indeed, someone unfamiliar with the system often misses the key points in which a case is actually teetering on the brink of success or failure. Of course the various fictional accounts cannot truly portray that odd mixture of high drama and pure boredom that a typical jury or judge trial creates. Movies and plays, novels and newspapers all give prominence to that particular type of modern passion play, the American jury trial. It is the highest point of euphoria, the greatest amount of stress, the most amount of work and the scariest part of every lawyer’s career. It’s the catharsis and the justification for all of our years of planning and preparation. A brilliant litigator once told this writer what it means to be close to the actual trial of a case.
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