It’s Not Just What You Ask, It’s How

How you ask a question of a witness is every bit as important as the subject matter of the question, for the simple reason that the way you ask your question can greatly influence the response.

Choose words that presuppose the response you want to hear. For example, asking "How long did that go on?" will usually prompt a very different response than "How soon was it resolved?" “How long” implies the situation went on for quite some time. “How soon” implies the situation was resolved fairly quickly. "How many people were involved?" implies many people were involved. "Who else was involved?" implies just a few people were involved.

Other common examples are: "How fast was the car going?" (suggests high speed). "At what speed was the car traveling?" (suggests more moderate speed). "How far was the intersection?" (suggests the intersection was far away). "How near was the intersection?" (suggests the intersection was close by).  

As you craft your direct and cross questions, once you’ve got down the information you’re after, hone your questions so the words you use encourage and support the answers you want.

Second Edition of Connecting With Your Client Now Available Through the ABA and Amazon

The just released second edition of Dr. Noelle Nelson’s Connecting With Your Client (2015, ABA Publishing) gives attorneys the most up-to-date communication and persuasive tools needed to achieve greater client satisfaction.

The book contains updated information on:

• Effectively communicating using the latest technology
• Creating rapport that builds your client's trust and confidence
• Communicating billing and other case management issues in ways that support good client-lawyer relations
• Training your associates, legal assistants and support staff to adopt the appropriate attitude toward clients
• Step-by-step exercises that can help defuse uncomfortable situations

Connecting With Your Client includes discussion on how to maintain control over difficult situations and clients, as well as professional solutions drawn from real-life, real-case experiences. Managing partners, executive directors and marketing directors of top-level firms contribute their perspective and share their solutions for attaining client satisfaction and cooperation.

Connecting With Your Client is available at Shop ABA, Amazon or call by 800-285-2221. It is available in print and as an e-book.

Second Edition of Connecting With Your Client Now Available Through ABA & Amazon

The just released second edition of Connecting With Your Client (2015, ABA Publishing) gives attorneys the most up-to-date communication and persuasive tools needed to achieve greater client satisfaction. The author, leading psychologist and legal consultant Noelle C. Nelson, Ph.D., presents practical guidance and specific examples based on sound psychological principles and more than 25 years of experience in the legal field.

“Attorneys everywhere are being forced to reconsider their definition of service and how they approach client satisfaction,” says Nelson. “It’s more than just providing excellent lawyering. Clients expect that. Attorneys must consider how legal expertise is actually conveyed to the client. That means everything from promptly delivered phone calls and emails, to the best methods to keep the client appropriately informed and prepared, to a legal professional's attitude toward the client.”

The book contains updated information on:

• Effectively communicating using the latest technology
• Creating rapport that builds your client's trust and confidence
• Communicating billing and other case management issues in ways that support good client-lawyer relations
• Training your associates, legal assistants and support staff to adopt the appropriate attitude toward clients
• Step-by-step exercises that can help defuse uncomfortable situations

“When a client is frustrated, anxious or angry, communication between client and attorney often breaks down, which can negatively impact a case,” says Nelson. Connecting With Your Client provides step-by-step exercises to help attorneys stay in charge and to ensure that the client is satisfied with the legal services received.

The book also includes professional solutions drawn from real-life, real-case experiences. Managing partners, executive directors and marketing directors of top-level firms contribute their perspective and share their solutions for attaining client satisfaction and cooperation.

Connecting With Your Client is available at Shop ABA, Amazon or call by 800-285-2221. It is available in print and as an e-book.

Is Cross-Examination a Viable Opportunity for Your Expert to Educate? Yes!

Most good experts know that their role is one of educating the jurors to their point of view, to their opinion. This is true whether the expert is responding to direct or cross examination.

Experts are usually adept at looking at counsel during a question posed in direct examination, then spontaneously looking at the jurors for the greater part of their response. They are indeed fulfilling their role as educators.

However, when it comes to cross, too many experts become locked in an eye-to-eye duel with opposing counsel, mightily defending their opinion. They stop educating. One of the easiest ways to counter this tendency is to encourage your experts to maintain good eye contact with the jurors even during cross. Not, of course, as the question is being asked, but during the expert’s response, as long as that response is more than just a few words.

It is certainly more challenging, but a well-prepared expert can usually find a way to restate his/her opinion, and during that portion of their response, look out to the jurors. Just as the expert will or did during direct.

Practice with your expert! Role-play a few cross examination questions to support your expert’s ability to continue his/her educating-the-jurors function even as the expert is in a more defensive posture.

Eye contact can make all the difference.