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30 Spring 2015 The Mississippi Lawyer Talking to The Jury Opening Statements and Closing Arguments Good themes are based on universal truths about people and events we learn during our lives. In a car wreck case these universal truths are known as the Rules of the Road. The Rules of the Road con- tain the law applicable to motorists on public roads such as speed limits reckless driving etc. They can be used as the basis for your opening and to prove liability. Other good sources for themes are the great works of literature religious classics such as the Bible and popular sayings that are part of our everyday speech.3 2. Storytelling Effective opening statements are usu- ally based on good storytelling. After all a trial is essentially a contest to see which sides version of a disputed event or events the jury will ultimately accept as true.4 It is tempting for young lawyers to try and show the jury why your facts are superior and the only facts they should believe. Remember like most people jurors do not respond to being bombarded with hun- dreds of pages of documents. Rather it is important to distill your case down to its key points and weave those facts into a compelling story. 3. Efficiency Humans have limited attention spans. They also have limited capacities to retain information. A recent study shows that in the last 10 years attention spans have dropped from 12 minutes to 5 minutes because of Social Media.5 Think about that for a second. You only have 5 minutes before the jury starts tuning you out. Hence your opening statement must be efficient. A good way to work on efficien- cy is to practice your opening with a 3-5 minute time limit. You will be amazed at how much irrelevant information you can get rid of by stripping your opening. Of course you will want to add more detail when you give your opening in court but if you can give an effective opening in 5 minutes you can do it in 20. 4. Do Not Overstate the Evidence It is important that you do not over- state your case. It is far more effective to under promise and over deliver the proof than vice versa. A wise lawyer once said the jury will never forgive a lawyer for lying. Hence nothing is more damaging than to overstate facts in your opening statement. The jury will remember it resent your misrepresentation and no longer trust you. In most trials there is some point of evidence that calls for the jurors to evaluate your credibility. If you have previously misled them you will not get the benefit of the doubt and your client will suffer. 5. Choose Your Labels Labels are simply the trial vocabulary you select to refer to the parties events and other important things during the trial. Labels are important because they convey attitudes and messages. There is a differ- ence between calling your party the plaintiff or my client and Mr. Smith or Bobby between calling a vehicle a car and a big black Jaguar sports car and between calling a car crash an acci- dent and a collision.6 The book Words That Work Its Not WhatYou Say Its What People Hear by Dr. Frank Luntz is a great book about language. The author has worked with many politicians and Fortune 500 companies to develop tactical use of words and phrases. In fact Dr. Luntz cre- ated the moniker death tax. Many times lawyers forget that they have the ability to control the narrative in a case. This should be done thoughtfully and match up with your theme and anticipated evidence. II. Delivering A Powerful Closing Argument John Grishams first novel A Time To Kill offered a brutal portrayal of Southern justice in a small Mississippi town. A local white defense attorney Jake Brigance defended Carl Lee Hailey an African- American who was accused of murder for avenging the rape of his nine year old daughter. In the movie version of Grishams book Matthew McConaughey played the part of Jake Brigance. McConaughey delivered a powerful clos- ing argument on behalf of the accused. Now I had a great summation all worked out... ...full of some sharp lawyering... ...but Im not doing it. Im here to apologize. I am young and I am inexperienced. But you cannot... ...hold Carl Lee Hailey responsible... ...for my shortcom- ings. In all this legal maneuvering... ...something got lost. That some- thing is the truth. It is incumbent upon us lawyers... ...not to just talk about the truth... ...but to actually seek it... ...to find it to live it. . What in us seeks truth Our minds... ...or is it our hearts I tried to prove blacks could get a fair trial in the South... ...that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. Thats not the truth. The eyes of the law are human eyes... ...yours and mine and until we can see each other as equals... ...justice is never going to be even- handed. It will only be a reflection of our own prejudices. So until that day... ...we have a duty under God to seek the truth... ...not with our minds... ...where fear and hate turn commonality into prejudice... ...but with our hearts.... I want to tell you a story. Please close your eyes... ...while I tell it. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to your- selves. Go ahead. Close your eyes please. This is a story about a little girl... ...walking home from the gro- cery store one sunny afternoon. I want you to picture this girl. Suddenly a truck races up. Two men