Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
I’m not an expert I’m here as a teacher to help you understand some of the evidence and facts.
Richard Gabriel, Redefining Credibility: Turning Expert Witnesses into Teachers, 21(3) The Jury Expert, May 2009.
Frequently, however, [jury’s] are turned off by expert witnesses, who may resemble one of the following:
- Ivory Tower: arrogant and condescending
- Swordsman: combative, defensive, hostile, nitpicky
- Waffler: uncertain and inconsistent
- Automaton: stiff, robotic, confusing, unintelligible
- Salesman: slick and overzealous
"Under all of these negative terms," advises trial consultant Richard Gabriel, "lies one fundamental problem: the lawyer and the witness did not have the intention of truly communicating with today’s jury."
A quick review of this publication shows some other interesting and potentially useful articles for the trial practitioner.