Sometimes a client has everything going for them as they prepare for a speech; they’ve thought about what they want to say, they’ve outlined their ideas in a clear and cogent way, they have an objective for the speech that they can articulate, they are excited to reach the audience with their message -- they [...]
It seems like every witness I helped prepare for testimony last month was angry – which got in the way of both how they approached preparing to testify and their actual testimony. Each witness was challenged by not being able to get past his or her negative emotions and dive into preparation in an open, [...]
By far one of the angriest clients I have ever worked with was a Middle Eastern-born physician preparing to testify multiple times in his divorce proceeding. He was frustrated that his marriage was ending, that custody of the children could be disputed, and that his wife had used the allegation of spousal abuse as a [...]
Defusing Anger During Cross Examination How many times have you observed a well-prepared, even-tempered witness get lured into a defensive posture or a contentious dialogue with a cross-examining attorney? It can be damaging for a jury to see a witness who has impressed them as reasonable, compassionate, and credible suddenly present as antagonistic, angry, and [...]
