The names, acronyms and abbreviations
so familiar to you, are not to the jurors. You may think that by saying, for
example, “Acme Building Supply, which we’ll now call ABS for convenience” is
enough to warrant saying “ABS” through the rest of your trial.
But “ABS” has no guts to it, has no
uniqueness, no personality, as it were. As laborious as it may be for you to
repeat the full appelation, “Acme Building Supply” has a history. It’s associated
with events, persons--it has a life. “ABS” is just another bit of alphabet
soup.
Be sure to use full names of persons,
entities or objects throughout your trial. Avoid the use of pronouns or
abbreviated references. Jurors often have trouble keeping track of who did what
to whom. They will be totally lost if they must also concentrate on which
"he," "she," or "it" you are now referring to.
Certainly, well-known abbreviations are acceptable, but generally speaking, abbreviations
used too often only serve to confuse jurors. A confused juror is an
unsympathetic juror. An unsympathetic juror is the one who could cause you to
lose your case.
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