Avoiding Common Plaintiff Errors: Lessons from Both Sides of the Courtroom

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder Jack Zinda is joined by Lead Trial Lawyer Drew Bell. They discuss common errors from both sides of the courtroom and the lessons they’ve learned.

Discussed in this Episode:

Avoid overreach
Pellet issues
Advocacy mistakes
Telling the story
Asking for money
Attacking witnesses
Discover battles

Avoid Overreach

Drew talks about the concept of “playing it vanilla” when you’re a plaintiff lawyer and how that differs from being a defender. As a defender, you’re often tasked with finding ways to elicit emotional responses from the jury in a way that masks or avoids the reason for the case. The defender may look for something the plaintiff lawyer presents and may attempt to spin it.

Pellet Issues

As a defender it could be in your best interest to allow the plaintiff lawyer to make mistakes. Allowing the plaintiff to submit evidence that won’t help their case or even hurts their case gives you more opportunity to poke holes. Bringing in a pellet council can be a great way to ensure that problems don’t slip through the cracks.

Advocacy Mistakes

“Jury selection is Opposite Day” for defendants. Instead of trying to find jurors who will be favorable to your case, you’ll instead want to weed out those who will judge your case most harshly. Some preconditioning can be fine, but it’s much more important to get rid of the jurors who are going to kill your case.

Telling the Story

One of the biggest mistakes plaintiff lawyers can make is spending too much time on the story. While it’s important to present enough evidence in your case, you have to make sure that you aren’t getting lost in the narrative and cause the jury to check out. Jack suggests watching true crime documentaries and watch how they concisely tell the story.

Asking for Money

If you are able to, you should test your number with an audience. A big mistake can be asking for more than what the jury thinks the case is worth. It’s also worth noting that revealing the number too early or too late can cause the defense to attack that number or shock the jury by the number. Getting an expert witness who doesn’t have any direct connection to damages awarded can be effective as well.

Attacking the Witnesses

Don’t be a jerk when it comes to attacking witnesses. Just because something was “bad” doesn’t mean that it will win over the jury. Jack provides an example of a defense attorney who attacked the plaintiff’s mother and how badly it backfired.

Discovery Battles

Drew talks about the balance between having a “scorched earth” amount of evidence vs. running your trial too efficiently and the issues that can result from each side.

You can reach Jack at:

jack@zindalaw.com
512-246-2224