Two trial tactics tips for the courtroom

Here are two trial tactic tips from a pair of talks I attended that I found helpful. The first one: The lawyer pulls up a document on the screen in the courtroom. He tells the demo operator to pull up paragraph No. 12 of a 50 paragraph exhibit and highlight it. The witness testifies about that paragraph. I’ve done it a hundred times — and done it wrong a hundred times. The speaker remarked that the jury isn't listening to the testimony. Jurors are wondering: What’s in the other 49 paragraphs? Will we ever get a chance to look at them? Is that lawyer trying to hide something by only showing us one? Jurors are spending a lot of cognitive horsepower -- but not on what the lawyer wants them to spend it on. Solution: The lawyer should mention to the witness that jurors will have the entire document to look at, but right now he just wants to focus on paragraph No. 12. The second tip: Lawyers should use text messages to communicate with co-counsel at trial. How have I done it all these years? Whispering or passing notes, which can be distracting to the jury. This speaker observed that lawyers should tell the jury they are going to text each other and that they are doing so because it is more efficient and less distracting. Great ideas both. Sometimes wisdom never comes, so it should not be rejected merely because it comes late.