The right demonstratives can be powerful when cross-examining a witness, memorably reinforcing elements that you want to highlight during questioning. And in the latest episode of Trial Technique Spotlight, trial presentation expert Shane Read analyzes how Mark Lanier’s adept use of demonstratives on cross challenged a defense expert’s credibility and helped set up a headline-making verdict. 

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Fort Lauderdale, FL— Jurors Monday handed down a $132,000 verdict for the lung cancer death of a Florida woman who smoked for more than half a century, but they cleared one of the two tobacco company defendants at trial and apportioned the lion’s share of fault to the smoker herself. Neff v. R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris, 2007-CV-036745.

In a trial's battle of the experts, how a medical expert presents testimony can be crucial in building credibility and connecting with a jury. And in the latest episode of Medical Testimony Master Class, Burton Bentley, II, M.D.  highlights how a prominent medical expert’s explanation of his approach with patients was a powerful presentation technique in testimony that helped clear a California doctor in a $120 million medical negligence and battery trial. 

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A powerful cross-exam of your opposing party’s key expert can be pivotal in your case, especially when a trial comes down to the proverbial battle of the experts. In the latest episode of Trial Technique Spotlight, Shane Read, one of the nation’s foremost trial presentation experts, discusses a framework that can be used to structure a powerful cross-exam. And he highlights how Elizabeth O’Neill adeptly used an element in that framework when cross-examining an asbestos expert, en route to securing a defense verdict in a mesothelioma trial.