I’m going to speak about three key aspects of your personal communication when presenting demonstrative Evidence;

Presence

Vocal Skills

Physical Movement and Body Language

The success of all your preparation for a trial, the strategy, the tactics, the content, and your prepared text finally comes down to one critical element – your personal performance.

Since our time is brief, I’m going to focus on one particular aspect of presenting demonstrative evidence -- the presentation of an exhibit, an object, rather than a document, or an audio or video recording. Much of what I'm speaking about will also apply to the presentation of a chart or a projected image on a screen.

Scenario

You have selected a piece of demonstrative evidence. You have chosen this evidence because it can speak to the Jury. You know that this exhibit will connect with the jury emotionally and intellectually at a level of persuasion that you could not achieve by speaking alone.

This is your silent witness to the truth – and you are its presentation partner.

On your behalf, this exhibit will do in silence more than you can do in words; provided you present it well.

At this point you have already established your relationship with the jurors – given them your account, your story, of the events that led to this trial. Assuming that you have done your job well, they are currently immersed in your story – they have it in their mind’s eye.

Now you are going to connect the world of their imagination, your story, with reality. You will transport them from the past to the present – from the places of your story to right here and right now – by placing in front of them a real object from your story. Great story tellers can make a moment like this seem magic. In a trial, at its most effective, the physical presence of something that has been part of your story can seem to be a conclusive validation of what you have told them.

Your skill in doing this can change your evidence from something which is merely “interesting” to something which is completely compelling; something that will be imprinted in the memory - perhaps for life.

All that remains is for you to perform at your very best.

The Winning Edge

Great trial lawyers know that trials are inherently dramatic, in fact, more dramatic than a fictional drama. Your conflict is real. A trial is in fact a conflict about a conflict. Drama doesn’t get any better than this. Your stories are real; your characters are real. And your listeners are now part of this drama. No one knows what is going to happen from one hour to the next, and the final outcome has yet to be written. You have the leading role, and the final outcome is in your hands. It may well be that your presentation of this key piece of demonstrative evidence is what decides the outcome.

When the arguments, the competing stories have been told – and when the weight of these arguments is almost equal – the winner will not necessarily be the team with the best story – the winner will almost always be the best storyteller.

The Elements of Personal Communication

Information – Organization – Delivery

Let’s go quickly through the elements of the verbal communication in your demonstrative evidence.

1. Information

Of course it all starts with the quality of the information which you have chosen to present your evidence and that has been addressed by my colleagues.

2. Organization

Your next step is to organize this information in the most effective way possible. The most important point here is that this information must be organized to be heard, not to be read.

Since my topic is verbally delivering information, I will only say that your effectiveness will be dependent on your information being designed for the ear. In my 20 years of working with lawyers, I would say that this is still the greatest shortcoming in the preparation of presentations.

3. Delivery

When you introduce your evidence, the level of persuasiveness, indeed the meaning inferred from what you say is profoundly affected by your performance.

You are in a relationship with this jury which is evolving with every exchange. And as you present your evidence, how you move, how you speak, and your current emotional state of being affects the credibility and the persuasiveness of what you say about your evidence. I call these factors your Personal Performance.

The Three Aspects of Personal Performance

Presence – Vocal Skill – Physical Interaction

1. Presence

Your personal performance in presenting your evidence is based on the one quality that all superb speakers, indeed all superb performers, in any field of endeavor, have in common.

I call it “Presence”, the ability to be “in the moment”, to be focused, relaxed under pressure, and alive to what is happening, able to thrive in the relationship between you and your listeners from moment to moment. It is the essence of “charisma.”

My definition of charisma is, “enthusiastic, energetic engagement” – and I would add to that, “empathetic”.

The challenge is to commit to focusing all of your thoughts and attention on the subject, in this case the exhibit you are presenting, and on the jury’s response as they observe it for the first time.

The keys to being fully present.

Your best chance to be fully present and engaged begins with superb preparation for your trial. When every detail and every possible scenario and variation been anticipated – when every speaker and witness on your team has been fully prepared – you will be able to focus on and connect with the jury.

The other factors which enable you to be a charismatic speaker are your level of physical fitness, and your work-life balance. It is essential for you to study and practice stress management techniques to manage your emotional state under pressure.

2. Vocal Skills

Knowledge, skill, and experience are the tangible assets of a successful trial lawyer. Integrity, passion and speaking skills turn those assets into a successful career.

Vocal Preparation for a Specific Trial.

Repetition

An absolute minimum of ten rehearsals of all of your prepared statements is essential.

Each repetition will increase your confidence. Each repetition will improve your diction and increase your ability to modulate the pace or the tone of what you are saying to the very best effect when you are actually "in the moment".

Your complete familiarity with all of your text allows you to edit on the fly, changing, or adding to what you had planned to stay. When a new issue arises, you will be able to improvise and effortlessly include some of your rehearsed statements.

Do not try to recite your text word for word; no matter how good you are -- it will sound like you are reading -- and that, of course would be disastrous.

Memorizing

Only memorize your very first and very last statements, and those critically important statements that you hope will have the greatest impact in the trial. These key statements should be created “out loud” - and then written down – rather than the other way around. That way you are using your own, natural speaking habits – and they will sound completely natural.

I recommend that you write down only your key points and pieces of information, names, dates, statistics etc. that you must get right. All the rest of your speaking should be practiced using bullet points, so that you can speak “in your own words” at the time.

Practice techniques

Practice with friends or colleagues in a conversational style -- and then try to remember what that feels like when you're practicing alone.

Finally, please practice out loud! Simply reading to yourself -- or even speaking quietly is not adequate preparation. The vibrations of your voice coordinated with the movement of your breath and your articulators are all retained in your sense memory.

Do not sit still while you're practicing. You're not going to be sitting while talking to the jury -- so practice while you're moving around -- preferably when you're walking -- just put your cell phone to your ear and speak out loudly -- no one will pay any attention to you, the vigorous physical movement coordinated with your voice will give you tremendous physical and vocal confidence when it comes to presenting in the trial.

Speaking during the Trial.

How to warm-up and energize yourself

Before each practice session – and on each day of the day of the trial take 10 minutes for this to release some tension and to energize yourself .

Stretch all of your body including neck, shoulders, jaw ,lips and tongue. Yawn, play with your breathing in a variety of ways - then hum, move your lips around - start to recite your favourite poems, tongue twisters or key statements from your case -- all while moving around continuously.

Practice your opening statement in a conversational voice, then do it loudly, then as fast and as clearly as you can - and finish with at least one or two more repetitions in your normal voice. Then do your favorite speech from Shakespeare - connect with the God of the English language and utter the same words that the greatest living actors have spoken for 400 years - they are your kindred spirits.

Most of all find your own way of warming up and energizing. Everyone is different; for me it's alternating between high energy and very calm and deliberate voice and physical exercises -- trust your impulse -- it doesn't always have to be the same -- but your favorites will stick.

When It's Time to Speak

Dare to wait until you are fully present. Breathe calmly through slightly open lips as you do this. It is imperative that you take a few moments to take a fresh look at your surroundings, make eye contact with every single juror, reflect on the first thing you're going to say and then begin to deliver it, one thought at a time, to each juror.

You are discovering your material at the moment of delivery, focused on how each piece of information is being perceived, and letting the jury know that you will respectfully and thoughtfully speak to them this way throughout the trial.

How long to take in order to be present? As long as it takes. How fast to speak or how loud speak? -- that all depends on your listeners. The clarity of your thoughts and the energy of your intention to help each person in the jury understand what you're saying will perfectly control your pace and your tone of voice.

You have the responsibility of taking the initiative with new stories, additional details, digressions and even responses to the jury's response, but you are prepared for all of this.

The golden rule at the beginning is to think fast and speak slow.

As you establish rapport with the jury you will learn from one another, you will create a completely unique way of communicating with one another, that none of you has ever experienced before, nor will again. That’s presence.

Developing Your Vocal Skills

Awareness – assessing your current skill level.

Simply increasing your awareness of your skills in itself will produce substantial improvements. Recording your voice regularly on tape - or videotaping yourself whenever you can is probably the single most valuable thing to do. I see it transform my client’s careers. Very few of your competitors do it. Forgive me, it seems like a no-brainer to me.

Secondly, to develop your vocal skills substantially and continuously there is one activity which to my ongoing astonishment very few people think of -- which is to read aloud every day -- and to read aloud the best text you can find; particularly text that has been written to be heard.

Since you have so much to read every day, you may benefit from this valuable activity without any additional use of time. From this one, simple daily habit your voice quality will improve immediately and substantially – and continue to improve throughout your career.

From good to great; a priceless resource,

I believe that no trial lawyer can ever reach her or his full potential without having used the most precious training resource available, the resource that has the greatest examples in the English language of speeches in trials, brilliant presentations, strategies and tactics of persuasion and manipulation, together with insights into the criminal mind, the abuse of power and the psychology of modern man - the works of William Shakespeare.

Those who do use this resource benefit tremendously. Reading this text which has profoundly influenced all English literature and our everyday language will increase every aspect of your personal performance, and deepen your understanding of human psychology and inform your own stories and arguments to move and to persuade your listeners. Of course it must be read aloud (it was never intended to be read in silence)

Think of all your pastimes and recreations; how long does it take to read a novel? How much time do you spend in improving your golf or any other of your favorite sports?

You can read King Lear aloud in less than half a day and become a better speaker immediately.

Memorize text from Lear and Macbeth and Hamlet - it will hugely improve your voice quality, strengthen your ability to memorize text, and give you a pleasurable means of warming up your voice before an important day in court.

3. Physical interaction

Your body language including, most importantly, your facial expression may account for as much as 50% of the meaning of what you say.

There is a particular emphasis on your body language when you are presenting demonstrative evidence.

You will add or take away value from your exhibit depending on how you approach it, how close you stand to it, how you handle it, if you do indeed handle it – and in particular how and when you look at it.

In general terms, the more casually you handle an object the less value it appears to have.

The jury will read your attitude towards a piece of evidence and your attitude will influence theirs. They will see and feel much of what you see and feel.

Example of Presenting an Important Exhibit

It begins with the announcement of the presentation.

You will have already chosen where you are going to stand at this moment. Focus your attention on your exhibit by positioning yourself so that you can observe both your exhibit and the jury intently.

First, look at the object yourself; reflect on it as you look. How do you feel about it right now, in this moment? Most significantly what is the mood of the jury right now? Can you assume they will be receptive? Using your experience with them up to this point, you will find the right tone with which to speak.

Secondly, approach the with the appropriate degree of respect, and thirdly, if you choose to handle the object, handle it to demonstrate or reinforce your attitude to it – whether it be something precious, or something frightening, the jurors will be influenced.

Avoid distracting your listener’s observation of the exhibit by looking away from it, standing in front, or handling it disrespectfully. Do not turn your back on the jury! This will, at the very least, break your connection with them, and at worst it may seem deceptive or manipulative.

However, you may choose to engage the jury’s attention occasionally and take the focus yourself, to provide them with useful information, and then invite them to look at the exhibit again with fresh eyes.

Conversely. when it comes to your adversary’s exhibits, you may use these same principles in reverse, as it were; speaking and physically acting to diminish their value.

Physical Preparation for Presenting Evidence.

As with your speaking, constant repetition is the secret to effective interaction and handling of an exhibit. Have a minimum of ten repetitions of your movement and handling of the object every day, up to and including the day you are going to present the exhibit. It’s not about ensuring that you won’t drop an object, or damage it in some way – it’s about using it to maximum effect. With practice, lots of practice, you can coordinate your handling and you’re speaking into a powerful presentation.

Finally, to improve your physical skills and combine that with presence and vocal skills – and to learn are more than I could ever teach you about the presentation of evidentiary evidence, I would recommend that you study the breathtakingly brilliant speech of Mark Antony in "Julius Caesar". Mark Antony’s presentation of Caesar's will - and of his blood-stained toga is a superb example of the presentation of demonstrative evidence. In fact, I encourage you to memorize it, get on your feet, and actually do it. Experience, first hand, Shakespeare’s genius in combining brilliant oratory with the physical presentation of objects. (See also Hamlet’s “Alas poor Yorick” speech – and a score of other speeches from the plays, all of which will give you the opportunity to practice using objects to dramatize your arguments.)

When you have been able to do that effectively, it will benefit you tremendously the next time you have to present an object as an exhibit in trial.

“The readiness is all” Hamlet

Conclusion

I'm sure it's not too difficult to identify the themes running through this brief talk.

First, be yourself; the elements off your performance, whether it be your physical presence, your speaking or your emotional state of being, are all dependent upon you being yourself.

Secondly, constantly improve your preparation techniques – and rehearse your own performance.

Thirdly, practice must be done on an ongoing and regular basis. Yes, you can learn “on the job”, but make your mistakes in practices sessions, not in court.

Musicians, athletes, actors, firemen, soldiers – individuals, teams and armies - everyone who needs to perform critical, high stakes tasks under pressure maintains their skill level by regular practice.

Build a critical mass of skills to free your creativity and become more effective every time you speak.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit” Aristotle

References

Ball, David. Theater Tips and Strategies for Jury Trials. 3rd ed. Louisville, CO: NITA, 2003. Print

Decaro, Lisa & Leonard Matheo. The Lawyer’s Winning Edge: Exceptional Courtroom Performance. Denver, CO: Bradford Publishing Company, 2004. Print

Havener, Kathleen. “Method Acting for Lawyers.” ABA Practice Essential Articles July 2005: 1-5. ABA Web Store. Web. 15 Oct 2009.

Oatley, Roger. Addressing the Jury: Achieving Fair verdicts in Personal Injury Cases. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book Inc., 2000. Print

Plank, John. Commanding Presence Handbook. Toronto, ON: Commanding Presence Inc. 2009. Print

Read, Shane. Winning At Trial. Louisville, CO: NITA, 2007. Print

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