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Litigation Strategies Witnesses Credibility

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Witnesses, Remember Confidence is a Behavior

Testifying, whether in a deposition or in trial, can feel pretty threatening. Particularly if you’re a named defendant in a lawsuit, you know you’re going to be the target. But even when you’re on the other side, or you’re an...more

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Exuding Credibility in the Courtroom

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In this episode of his "The Trial Lawyer's Handbook" podcast series, litigation attorney Dan Small sits down with Frank Vecella, principal at McKool Smith and former head of litigation for Ericsson, for an in-depth discussion...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Opening: Build Your House First, Then Take Aim at Their House

I have worked with more than one defendant who simply could not resist it: Right out of the gate, in opening statement, they come out swinging against the plaintiff. They’re not being honest, they have their own share of...more

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Witnesses, Add to Your ‘Truthiness’ by Showing Pictures

The idea is a merger of pop culture with academics. In pop culture, “truthiness” refers facetiously to the feeling of something being true, independent of its actual truth value (a term coined by late-night comedian, Stephen...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Witnesses: Answer Both the Language of the Question and Its Implication

When preparing a witness, there can sometimes be a strong impulse to say, “Just answer the question.” That impulse comes from an appropriate desire to keep things simple, and to keep the witness from wandering or waffling....more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Face It: Masks Don’t Hinder Credibility Assessment

As a sign of just how serious the coronavirus pandemic is getting, the President has finally appeared in public with a mask. The precaution of wearing a face mask is still highly politicized, but it is slowly catching on. In...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Witness Testimony: Understand the Confidence/Competence Circle

For someone starting out in a career, or in some other situation where credibility will be required, there is an expression: “Fake it until you make it.” In other words, if you act like you’ve got it, then people are going to...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Project Your Voice

It is one of the central messages of witness preparation: Be confident, because if you’re confident, you’ll be more credible. Once, I got the reply from a witness, “But I don’t feel confident,” and the question, “Should I act...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Consider the Upside of Outrage

It is almost election time again. But the normally low-turnout midterm may not be in the cards this time around, owing to the outrage on both sides of the political spectrum. And some believe that it’s a shame that we have...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Empower Your Witness: A Review of “Reinventing Witness Preparation”

When you read a good novel, you sometimes can’t wait until it’s made into a major motion picture. While the scale might be smaller in the legal publishing world, the benefits of extending an initial vision are parallel. In...more

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