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11 Trial Excellence 1 (1999)

handle is hein.journals/jurexp11 and id is 1 raw text is: Trial Excellence Volume 11, Number 1 January, 1999 The Top 5 Ways to Supercharge Your Opening Statement We all know how important the opening statement is. We've all read about primacy. And we know that people tend to form opinions in the first minute or SO. That means your opening statement must be lean and mean, without wasteful fat. It must also be formulated to create a lasting impression. The following five suggestions will help you do just that. 1. Keep it short Today, life is rapid. Visual and aural stimuli are intense and never ending. As a result, attention spans are shrinking, along with patience. The modem juror wants his information quickly. Follow Lincoln's timeless advice about how long a man's legs should be: Long enough to reach the ground. Determine what it will take for your jury to under- stand the basic story and your theory of the case, and then get to it. 2. Make it visual rleffighlngnts: Jurors also want their information S..... 3vivid. Ours is no longer a primarily concep- A. /tual culture. We are pounded, instead, MI; with images. So if you want your opening statements to work, use visual words. OR; Spend time coming up with language that evokes images, and avoid legalese. Also, use demonstrative evidence at key