Witness Preparation

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Witnesses, I’d like to have a word. You know the most important audience for your testimony — the jurors in the courtroom with you, or the future jury who might someday see a clip of your deposition? That audience is kind of pulling for you. You aren’t a lawyer, and […]

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Experienced trial lawyers know it is important that their witnesses are prepared to testify. At the deposition stage, and even when the likelihood of a trial is uncertain, it is critical to invest the time in making sure that the important witnesses know what to expect and are ready to go

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When thinking about the title for this post, I came awfully close to saying that certainty “matters more” than accuracy, but I thought that perhaps it might sound too cynical. But that stronger version is supported by the research: Jurors do seem to pay more attention to witness certainty than

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It sometimes happens in the course of testimony: After what might have been a longer or misdirected answer, the witness will receive a stern admonition from either the questioning attorney, or worse, the judge: “Please listen carefully to the question and then simply answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’” That kind of

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: So you’re preparing for your trial testimony, and the discovery has been voluminous. Out of the mountain of documents that opposing counsel might wave at you, there are a handful that are most likely to be relevant to you. The documents and their underlying issues have been carefully curated and

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Arriving for the preparation meeting, the witness notices that there’s someone new in the room: a communications consultant. A non-lawyer visiting from out-of-town, the consultant is introduced by the lawyer as a specialist in legal communication and as someone who “is here to help us prepare for your testimony.” Over

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Q: At the time you signed the contract, did you believe that all of your business partners had the capacity to comply with its terms?  A: Well, here is what was going on when I signed the contract: The business was growing massively, and our capacity was increasing by the

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As we are moving up yet another hill on the pandemic case-count rollercoaster, hopefully the last rise before the final descent into a vaccine landing zone, courts are once again pulling back in–person trials, while lawyers look for ways to stay prepared using virtual tools. Along with web-conferenced hearings and

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When preparing a witness, there can sometimes be a strong impulse to say, “Just answer the question.” That impulse comes from an appropriate desire to keep things simple, and to keep the witness from wandering or waffling. But it can be bad advice. The choice to just answer the question on