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.
Lanier, of the Lanier Law Firm, represented 22 plaintiffs who claimed that exposure to Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based products caused ovarian cancer. At trial, Lanier aimed to undercut a key defense expert’s credibility by challenging his qualifications and painting him as what Lanier called a “jukebox witness.”
“It means someone pays you money and you’ll sing the song they want you to sing,” Lanier told the witness, who had said he didn't understand the term. As Lanier questioned the witness on this point, he showed a picture of a jukebox bearing the witness’s face, surrounded by key issues Lanier intended to address.
“His visual aids were just out of this world,” Read says, noting that the jukebox helped “put a theme to this cross-examination, a label to this witness… [as] this professional witness.”
Read says the clip is a great example of undermining a witness’s credibility, the first element in the CROSS framework of preparing a cross-exam. That method builds an effective cross-exam by asking the following questions:
C - CREDIBILITY - Can you cross-examine the expert on their lack of credibility?
R - RESTRICT - Can you restrict the damaging testimony that was given on direct?
O - OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENT - Is there an outrageous statement you can elicit on cross that you can then use in closing?
S - STATEMENTS THAT ARE INCONSISTENT - Are there any inconsistent statements this expert has made in the past that you can highlight?
S - SUPPORT FOR YOUR CASE - What ideas, opinions, and facts can this expert acknowledge on cross that support your case?
Lanier ultimately won a $4.69 billion verdict in the trial. And Read’s discussion of Lanier’s use of demonstratives on cross is just a part of this episode of Trial Technique Spotlight, where Read also highlights the CROSS framework, discusses the importance of remaining professional during questioning, and more.
This is the latest in CVN’s ongoing series, Trial Technique Spotlight, with Shane Read. Read is a nationally recognized expert and award-winning author who has helped thousands of lawyers transform their deposition, trial, and oral advocacy skills through in-house training programs, one-on-one coaching, and keynote speeches. And in each episode of Trial Technique Spotlight, he uses CVN’s trial video to detail the techniques the nation’s top attorneys use, and how to best use them in your own cases.
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
Related information
Watch past episodes of Trial Technique Spotlight with Shane Read
Learn more about Shane and how he helps trial lawyers at www.ShaneRead.com.
Watch the full trial featured in this episode.
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