Law Commons^™

Revisiting Trial Basics Every Time: A Ritual For Courtroom Success, Maureen A. Howard

Articles

With fewer cases progressing to trial, many attorneys do not have adequate opportunities to practice the skills necessary to be successful in the courtroom. Here the author provides a useful and uncomplicated examination of the basic trial advocacy skills, which should be reviewed each time an attorney prepares for trial. Writing for the busy practicing attorney, the author concisely addresses six key stages of trial: voir dire, opening statement, direct examination, cross-examination, impeachment, and closing argument.

Taking Better Depositions By Thinking "Outside The Box", Maureen A. Howard

Articles

While there are reasons a lawyer may ask questions in a deposition to confirm what she thinks she already knows—nailing down facts for a summary judgment motion, confirming factual and legal theories, perpetuating a witness’s testimony, or facilitating settlement by flexing favorable facts—gathering information the lawyer does not know remains the primary goal of almost every deposition. Despite this, lawyers too often ask questions based on what they already know, limiting the universe of answers and undermining the goal of gathering information.

By the time a lawyer notes depositions, she has already built a “working model” of the case based …

Effective Pre-Trial Motions: Persuading The Judge, Maureen A. Howard

Articles

Victories won in pre-trial motions can significantly affect the direction and outcome of a trial. For this reason, successful trial lawyers prepare for motions with the same thoroughness that they employ for the trial itself. Arguing a motion to a trial judge, however, is different from arguing your case to a jury; to be effective, an advocate needs to be mindful of the difference.

Judges generally resist what they perceive as emotional manipulation, theatrics, or excessive rhetoric. Many judges expect lawyers to cleanly and succinctly argue the facts and the law without employing any appeal to emotion. That being said, …

The Asymmetry Of Duty In Criminal Trial Practice, Maureen A. Howard

Articles

Although the American trial system has been likened to an arena in which mental combatants fight “to the death” (the verdict), each warrior similarly skilled and equally committed to vanquishing the other in a forum with formal rules of engagement enforced by a learned and impartial judge, the role of the criminal prosecutor is qualitatively different than that of other advocates. This is because, unlike any other lawyer, a criminal prosecutor has an affirmative duty to the opposing party.

A lawyer who represents an individual client is duty-bound to advance that client’s interests vigorously within the bounds of the law. …