Focus, Focus, Focus
Like that familiar real estate ditty; location, location, location, for witness preparation it is focus, focus, focus. We have yet to do a witness preparation session where the first question, tell us what this case is about, doesn’t result in a rambling, inarticulate conglomeration of words from the person who will be responsible for telling the story [the chief witness] to the jury. Most attorneys think they can guide the witness by the questions they ask, but this comes off as inauthentic at best. Better is to work with the witness to focus their story using their own words. We have found the more we work with witnesses, the more focused their testimony becomes and the more authentic it appears to others, because by focusing the testimony, confidence is created.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
[...] research forms the background for our work with witness testimony [Focus, Focus, Focus]. Helping a witness focus their testimony so they use powerful language forms goes a long way [...]