The Trial Practice Tips Blog

Spotting Liars: A New Technique

Trial lawyers are in the business of spotting liars, but I'm not sure whether this new approach, as described in Psychology Today, will have any practical applications in depositions or at trial. But here's the link all the same:"If You Want to Catch a Liar, Make Him Draw." You can judge for yourself.

Related posts at Trial Practice Tips:

1. Practice Tip: Assume Your Deposition Witness Is Lying

2. Cross-Examining the Liar at Trial: Two Absolute Prerequisites

3. Deposition Tip: Help with Sniffing Out the Liars

Illinois News: New Rules of Evidence

The Illinois Supreme Court has approved Illinois Rules of Evidence, which will be effective January 1, 2011.

Some sources for learning about the Illinois Rules of Evidence--

• From the Illinois Supreme Court's website, the new Illinois Rules of Evidence;
• From Illinois Lawyer Now: "Supreme Court Approves Illinois Rules of Evidence." 

 

Civility and Litigation

There's a good article about civility in this month's Illinois Bar Journal: "Uncivil Action," by Helen W. Gunnarsson.

Some tips from the lawyers interviewed for the article:

• It's a waste of time to try to outbully a bully; make a decision not to respond to incivility with incivility;
• You can't reform the small percentage of lawyers who use incivility as a litigation tool; those lawyers, though, will become known for their incivility, which will tend to make it harder for their strategy to work;
• Your own bad behavior will come back to bite you; always treat people with courtesy, even when they're inept at doing it themselves.

Here's my own tip: get more sleep. In my experience, many of the ugly outbursts I've witnessed at depositions, which often lead to apologies later, are caused by stress exacerbated by lack of sleep.

Under Consideration: Changes to Illinois Discovery Rules

From Illinois Lawyer Now: "Supreme Court rules committee to hold public hearing on civil discovery proposals"--

The Rules Committee of the Illinois Supreme Court will hear comments at a public hearing on Wednesday, July 28 on three proposals dealing with discovery issues in civil cases.

The hearing is scheduled to be held at 10 a.m., 160N. LaSalle Street, Room C-500 in Chicago.

The first proposal would allow the use, in very limited circumstances, of a party's discovery deposition at trial. The second would allow a lawyer to take a deposition by electronic means (e.g., phone, video) without a court order or consent of the opposing party. The third would allow lawyers to issue subpoenas in civil actions.

There is further information about the proposals and public hearing at the Supreme Court's website.

Reader Input: Send Your Suggestions

As always, readers are welcome to email me with suggestions for topics to cover at The Trial Practice Tips Weblog.

Something new that I should cover? Deposition tips? Trial pointers?

Email me at eschaeffer -at- riverbendlaw.com

Advice for New Lawyers

At Dorf on Law, Ori J. Herstein has written a useful and entertaining post titled "Advice to the New Junior Associate in Big Law." It's full of good practical advice, like this bit of wisdom on the role of partners--

Partners like to feel that they and their work are of grave importance. Let them. In many ways associates function as a mirror for generating a flattering reflection, a sounding board for ideas and venting, and a sponge to absorb frustrations. It’s just how it is.

There's much more in the full post.

Detecting Liars: A New Method?

From Wired Science: "Lie-Detection Brain Scan Could Be Used in Court for First Time"--

A Brooklyn attorney hopes to break new ground this week when he offers a brain scan as evidence that a key witness in a civil trial is telling the truth, Wired.com has learned.

If the fMRI scan is admitted, it would be a legal first in the United States and could have major consequences for the future of neuroscience in court.

It seems unlikely such a scan would be admissible. There are still plenty of low-tech methods of exposing liars, however--see this article at Psychology Today: "Top 10 Secrets of Effective Liars."

Related posts:

1. "Deposition Tip: Help with Sniffing Out the Liars"

2. "Tip for Spotting Liars: Ask for the Story in Reverse"

If You'd Like a Bit of Humor

Here's a new site: Overheard in Court, which is open to submissions from its reader. The creators say on the homepage--

This site is dedicated to the memory of Judge Buchmeyer and his long running, much loved, column in The Texas Bar Journal. We chronicle the often hilarious world of courtroom antics for everyone's enjoyment. Did you hear something funny while you were in court or elsewhere traversing the legal world?

The site is very well done. Take a look. There's a contest going on now that runs through June 15. 1st prize: $150.

Navigating Trial Practice Tips by Category

Since I started this weblog in January, 2004, I've written 883 posts, enough for a good-sized book. Most of these posts are assigned to one or more categories. You can get to these categories by clicking on the list that appears on the left side of the weblog. I've also listed the categories here, followed by the number of weblog posts that have been assigned to each:

Appeal 26
Books 26
Class Actions 24
Closing Argument 27
Courtroom Tech 30
Cross-Examination 42
Current Affairs 4
Damages 14
Depositions 147
Direct Examination 14
Discovery 81
Evidence 45
Experts 49
Instructions 10
Law Online 36
Legal Writing 56
Mediation/Arbitration 8
Miscellaneous 78
Motion Practice 36
Opening Statement 19
Pleadings 5
Requests for Admissions 10
Settlement 6
Trial Style 34
Voir Dire 36
Web/Tech 50
Weblogs 24

While this weblog used to be called Illinois Trial Practice, I never focused exclusively on Illinois. I think the new name, Trial Practice Tips, sums up the weblog pretty well. 

How to Organize Simple Cases for Trial Without Software

In his post "A Basic Manual System to Organize Materials for Trial," lawyer Paul Luvera describes a step-by-step procedure for preparing for simple trial matters. He concludes, "This isn’t rocket science and certainly software management is probably superior to my procedure, but for simple cases it works for me." It's worth a read.