The Fundamentals of Direct-Examination
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Transcript of The Fundamentals of Direct-Examination
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BY ELLIOT J. WIENER, ESQ.
The Fundamentals of Direct-Examination
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Direct Examination in Matrimonial Matters
• Trial v. Summary Judgment• Factual dispute
• Fact gathering process
• Witnesses
• Documents
• Photos, tapes, etc.
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The Judge is the Audience 300-400 cases
Very experienced as lawyers and often as judges
Especially in Manhattan
Outside NYC
Matrimonial part is entry level position
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You and Your Client are Two Different People Do not take on your client’s emotional reactions to
situations
The other party is not your enemy
The other party would be your client if they came to you first
Your relations with your colleagues and the court will outlast your relations with your clients
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Don’t sell out Cordial, prepared, knowledgeable of facts and
law
Courts do not want rude lawyers who yell and interrupt
“You’re in the Second Circuit, not divorce court”
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Polite and firm does not mean push-over “Let me see if I can persuade you . . .”
Be sensibleLawyers and judges are in a very
practical profession “The Life of the law has not been logic. It has
been experience.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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Be organizedKnow where you are going and how you
want to get therePresentation should be well organized
Decision making
Educational
School
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Tutors
Medical
Mental health
Judge wants to follow your presentationJudge will be taking notesHopefully, the overall design of your
presentation should come through in the judge’s notes
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Make the judge’s job easier rather than harder
Break down your presentation into sections
Announce changes in subject“I’d like to turn to the subject of decision
making”“I’d like to turn to the subject of medical
decision making”
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Organize as if you are going to try every case“File” for direct examination of client & other
witnesses“File” for Closing Argument/Post Trial
MemorandumPut notes and ideas into the “files” as they
developTelephone calls from client with specific stories
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Client is more persuasive, the more specific the client can be
Expense v. advantageTry and get a sense early on of whether
you’ve got a real negotiating partnerOther lawyerOther client
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Begin Parenting Plan or Statement of Proposed Disposition Early
Focuses on remedies you seek, e.g., Sole custody
Medical decision making
50/50 parenting time
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Focuses on reasons for remedies, e.g., The Mother is prone to alienating behavior
The Father denies the existence of the child’s illness
Makes you alert to evidence that supports remedies
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Identify your central themes
Mother’s alienating behavior
Father’s denial of child’s illness
Parents’ ability to get along, their protestations to the contrary notwithstanding
Want to develop testimony that highlights themes
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Don’t want to seem overly rehearsed Same words from attorney and client
Same story each time it’s told, using same words
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory criminal trial
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Get client’s input
Client knows the story
Omit needless subjects
The telling detail about the cat that trivializes the process
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Sometimes hard to know what is needless
ReviseTell the story to another lawyer or a
friendSharpen presentation
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Outline / Q&A
Trials are more like jazz than classical music
Improvisation is imperative
Listen to witness
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Outline v. Q&A
Distinction not so important if you
Do not read your questions to the witness
Listen to testimony
Remain flexible
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Let witness know what subjects you’ll cover
Don’t make witness memorize answersMake sure notes are usableTriple spaceSeparate sections so you can reorganize
easily
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Start broad and get narrowerStructure like newspaper articleInverted pyramid“drill down” into a subjectAnnounce your topics
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Break the subjects down into small parts, don’t ask overbroad questions
Not:What are the problems with the current parenting
scheduleInstead:“I’d like to turn to the current parenting schedule.”“What are the problems with the mid-week visits?”“What happened with the mid-week visits last
week?”
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Why?
Relieves the client of the burden of remembering every element of the problems with the current parenting schedule
Your job is to organize the presentationOverbroad questions shift that burden to
the client
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Allows you to structure that testimonyOrganizes the presentation for the judgeForces you to think about this specific
subject in advance
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Preparing the Witness
Teach the process
Direct
Cross
Re-direct
Re-cross
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Form of QuestionsLeading v. Non-leading
Who, what, where, when
Exception: preliminary matters
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Lawyer provides the structure
Client tells the story
Client must convince the court, therefore client must speak
Client knows the story, just needs structure w/i which to tell it
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Information gathering process
Don’t have client repeat facts that are obvious and already in evidence through documents
Grades on report card
Corroborate client’s testimony with documentary evidence
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Formal objection: cumulative
Boring and unnecessary
Client can should explain facts related to documents
Why grades changed from one year to the next
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Tapes/Videos
Very dangerous
One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor
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Client’s Decision Making Process and the Hearsay and Child’s Statement Objections
2 separate objections
Hearsay Objection
What did the teacher tell you about your child’s performance in school?
Offered for fact not truth
Needed to show decision making process
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Child’s Statement Objection What did your child tell you about the amount of
homework he had that night (that you decided not to have him play in his Little League baseball game)?
Offered for fact not the truth
Needed to show decision making process
Does involve parent’s statement of child’s statement
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I Don’t Remember v. I Don’t Know “I don’t remember’ allows refreshing recollection
Can use anything
Caution: other side will review it
“I don’t know” cedes the issue to the other side
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Reticent Witness
Best solution in the preparation
Demonstrate how it works
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Chatty Witness
Witnesses job is to answer the questions asked
Judge appreciates efficiency
Words are weapons
Interrupt to redirect witness’s attention
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Client’s AttireBusiness attireLose the jewels and furs
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You can’t change your client, you can only prepare your
client