Biography opening statements in civil case defense act

In spite of all of the writing and seminars on the subject of opening statements, too many trial lawyers maintain a wrong and overly simplistic view of this important step in the trial. Remember, the opening statement is the critical first impression with the jury about the case. Too many lawyers take the easy road of telling a chronological narrative is if it were a police report instead of a compelling emotional story.

Opening statements are important. Practice reducing your case to a 30 second statement. When you insert too many details the real story gets hidden in a swamp of useless information. When you practice reducing the case in that way, you are better able to identify the big picture issues the jury would find important and craft your opening statement around those.

Examples of opening statements in court

Jim McElhaney was one of my favorite legal writers. For years he published a column in the American Bar Association Journal. I saved most of what Jim wrote because it made such good sense. In he published an article about telling a good story to the jury in your opening statement. Here are some of his thoughts. He makes the obvious point that we should never start the opening statement with a lecture about how what is about to be said is not evidence or waste the golden opportunity of first impression.

He correctly recommends that we tell the story of the case and not the story of the trial. Not only is it boring, but it does nothing to help your case, especially if you later decide not to call one of the witnesses or there is a failure to say what was promised. McElhaney argues that the job of the lawyer is not to tell the whole story but rather to create a curiosity to make the jury want to hear the details and fill in the blanks during the trial.

There are several ways to do this.