Preparing Your Client for Cross-Examination
The most important part of a personal injury trial is the plaintiff’s testimony. If it doesn’t go well, it will be nearly impossible to get a favorable damages award. We believe in thoroughly preparing the plaintiff to testify, both on direct and cross-examination.
By the time the trial draws near, most experienced personal injury lawyers will have a pretty good idea of what’s out there as far as potential cross-examination material. This comes from a variety of sources: interrogatory answers, medical records, deposition testimony, prior medical history, etc.
It’s important to always take the client through the major areas of cross-examination. I do this by explaining what is likely to be asked, and walking the client through the source material while explaining why the particular fact is a topic of interest for cross. Lately, in our office we have been actually conducting a full on mock cross-examination of our clients before trial. The lawyer doing the practice cross is always somebody who is not involved in the case for extra realism. We have found this is pretty effective. The next step is going to be video recording the practice cross so that we can play it back for the client to give them the full picture of how their testimony will be perceived by the jury.
Are any other lawyers out there doing this? Let me know how it has worked out.
