Storytelling and Opening Statements: A Perfect Marriage
Last time, I promised an entry on storytelling and opening statements. In mock trial, the first impression that you can make about your case, isn’t from how you present material during the case-in-chief, but rather from opening statements. The mark of a good opener is one who can effectively tell the story as your side sees it, one who can use emotion to conjure up feelings of empathy, sympathy and more. Your opener must masterfully disguise shortcomings and wonderfully laud the highlights that a jury will see.
In real trial, forget our mock setting for a moment here, don’t overburden yourself. I read a great blog about opening statements for trial advocacy and he makes a great point, “Don’t fall into the trap of overselling your case during opening statement.” Elliott Wilcox is absolutely right, if you make too many promises that you can’t keep, the jury will return a verdict that won’t be favorable for you and your client.
The great thing that Wilcox does is to show us how easy it is to fall into the trap of overselling with his story about air travel and how airlines constantly oversell the flying experience compared with what most passengers actually deal with. The same is true for a mock trial experience. When your opener fills the well with great presence and a compelling story, make sure that the facts are being told in such a way that the jury can follow. Don’t get name heavy on the jury, they have short attention spans, and remember to attach qualifiers or monikers to characters: Jan Patel, the janitor; Reagan Thomas, the reporter; Dr. Charney, the scientists; etc. These help the jury keep track of important characters and allow your opener room to move away from name dropping constantly.
Wilxcox also talks about underselling your case. This might seem counterintuitive to the attorney within us, but it makes sense when you stop and look at it. Most collegiate mockers in a criminal case want to take on the defense of proving their client is innocent. WHY DO THAT? The state already has a burden, let’s not make this battle of the burdens. KISS the jury (keep it simple stupid) and you’ll be rewarded at the end of trial. By underselling your case, your case-in-chief gets stronger. If you’re a good team with strong witnesses, the classic undersell will pay off when the jury expects the unexpected: SOMETHING GOOD. Then all your closer has to do is argue like it’s health reform and you’ve won two ballots handily.
Next time we’ll delve into the the honeymoon of this perfect marriage and talk about the closing arguments. Using a good theme, having good case theory and a competent team will help your closer immensely. Thanks for reading and be careful flying over U.S. AIRspace.
[...] was my defense closing for a criminal case this year. Now if you remember way back to the blog entry about opening statements, it’s imperative that you keep the perfect marriage alive and going. Those sparks of passion shouldn’t burn out by the time you get to your [...]