Publications: CARPE DIEM for Powerful Opening Argument

This is about opening arguments. Powerful opening arguments. Opening arguments that grab the attention of the jury. Opening arguments that provide a framework for viewing the evidence from your point of view. Opening arguments that make the jury look forward to hearing the evidence. Have I got your attention? Good. The key to powerful opening arguments is found in the following two or three words: Carpe Diem. SEIZE the moment.

Seize the moment. This is your best chance to make a first impression, either about you or your case. Maximize it. Open with a bang. Tell the jury what your case is about, provide them with a theme through which to consider your evidence, and tell them why their verdict should be in your favor.

When you step before them, the jury is waiting to hear what you have to say. They are focused. They have not yet had an opportunity to let their minds wander during your presentation or impose their own thoughts upon your case. You will never have a better chance to have an attentive jury hear your case, consider the evidence from your viewpoint, and attach themselves to your story and your theme of the case. Provide it for them. Don’t wait. Do it up front.

For most, seize the moment may seem an unusual approach. Even unsettling. Seizing the moment is designed, however, not on tradition and the way that most lawyer try cases. Seizing the moment is designed, instead, to captivate and ultimately, to persuade. Seizing the moment seeks to maximize impact at the time at which the jury will be most attentive to your case.

How can you do it? You can sum it up as easy as S-E-I-Z-E.

S is for “Seize the moment.”

Those first few minutes of your opening argument are the most important. You must set the platform for the presentation of your case in those first few moments. Opening arguments are, as much as any other part of a trial, about persuading jurors. Use the opportunity to advance your client’s cause.

Your objective is not impossible, it is not to win the case in opening argument. Jurors, contrary to popular belief, do not generally make up their minds after opening statements. Jurors do, however, often decide the perspective from which they will view the evidence. They may even decide whom to root for. And if they decide to view it from your perspective, you are half way home. Your objective is to provide a framework from which the jury can view the evidence and persuade the jury to view from that framework the evidence they are going to hear. So seize the moment and provide the jury, at the beginning of the case, your story, and why you should win.

Introductions come later. Give them the crux of your case right away. Compare:

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my name is John Buckley and it is my honor to represent Dr. Herbert Smith who is seated in the courtroom”

with

“This is not a case about medical malpractice, it is a case about cancer. Plaintiff is not a victim of malpractice; she is a victim of breast cancer. Dr. Smith did not commit malpractice; the Plaintiff’s cancer was already at a terminal stage before she even met Dr. Smith.”

Which of these approaches grabs your attention as a juror? Which of these approaches informs you of what the case is about? Which of these approaches provides you with a framework for considering the evidence? Seize the moment. It works.

E is for “Educate the jury.”

After you seize the moment and lay the groundwork, it is now time to broaden your theme out and tell it in the context of the story of your case. Provide the jury with basics of your story in whatever logical fashion (chronological, topical, etc.) best advances your story. Take your time along the way to educate the jury regarding the key concepts, terminology, and issues they will likely see during the case and decide in the case. Provide the jury with the tools and knowledge with which to view the theme and format you have presented to them at the onset.

Here is a good time to use some of your best demonstrative exhibits to fill in the picture for the jury. Provide the primer on the science, or medicine or other technical issues the jury will need to consider in reaching its verdict. Fill in the details; provide the technical information necessary to analyze the details, and to educate your jury to your case.

I is for “Introductions.”

Now that you have seized the moment and educated the jury, it is the appropriate time to introduce the witnesses they will see at trial. Introduce yourself, your client, and your experts. Introduce the key witnesses, qualify them, too. Put faces and names to the proof. Let your jury know who will testify, how they are qualified to testify, and to what they will testify. Because you have already provided the jury with your theme and framework, and have already educated them by filling in the details and providing a primer on the science, the jury will be more receptive to these witnesses and the jury will make more sense of these witnesses in the context of the overall case.

Z is for “Zoom in” on the weaknesses of your opponent’s case.

After you have seized the moment, educated the jury, and introduced your witnesses, it is time to lay seeds of doubt about the other side. The jury has seen your case. You have provided your jury with a perspective from which to view the evidence in a manner that makes sense. Show them that, from your perspective, the other side’s case does not make sense.

You are drawing them into the dispute, having already laid the groundwork to view it from your side. You are beginning to close the loop. Use this time to show the jury why, from you perspective, the other side’s case does not make sense, is not believable, and is not credible. You are, in essence, examining the other side’s case through your perspective for the jury.

E is for “Emphasize” why you should win.

Seize the moment at the end as well. It is time once again to reinforce your central themes and the crux of your case. Tell them why you should win.

SEIZE the moment in opening argument. It is a great way to make a first impression.

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