How To Excel During Cross-Examination Techniques For Experts That Work

Rating:
Summary: Great Advice -- Good Price
Review: You can sum up the authors' advice in a few succinct sentences: 1. Tell the truth. 2. Don't exaggerate or embellish the good information. 3. Don't minimize the bad information. 4. Answer the question you're asked, not the one you wish you had been asked. 5. If you're asked what time it is, don't tell them how to build a clock. 6. Don't be arrogant. 7. Don't talk gobbledegook. Say it in plain English. 8. Be courteous. 9. If you don't know the answer to a question, don't guess, speculate, or make up an answer. Say you don't know. 10. Don't try to be an expert in any field other than your own.

It is amazing how many so-called experts seem totally oblivious to these simple rules. Just because you're an expert, don't think you can breeze into court and blow smoke up the jury's britches legs. You may get away with it for a while, but you'll come to grief sooner or later. This little book performs its greatest service by reminding experts how horribly they can self destruct when they try to peddle snake oil. It contains example after example taken from actual transcripts where experts committed hara-kiri by ignoring one or more of the foregoing rules. At the end, the authors give a handy checklist of things to remember before testifying, and a list of "trick" questions asked by lawyers.

My first impression upon opening the package was that the book seemed awfully slender, and the price seemed awfully fat. On second thought, however,the price is a small price to pay for a guidebook which can help keep you out of shark-infested waters.

Rating:
Summary: Great Advice -- Good Price
Review: You can sum up the authors' advice in a few succinct sentences: 1. Tell the truth. 2. Don't exaggerate or embellish the good information. 3. Don't minimize the bad information. 4. Answer the question you're asked, not the one you wish you had been asked. 5. If you're asked what time it is, don't tell them how to build a clock. 6. Don't be arrogant. 7. Don't talk gobbledegook. Say it in plain English. 8. Be courteous. 9. If you don't know the answer to a question, don't guess, speculate, or make up an answer. Say you don't know. 10. Don't try to be an expert in any field other than your own.

It is amazing how many so-called experts seem totally oblivious to these simple rules. Just because you're an expert, don't think you can breeze into court and blow smoke up the jury's britches legs. You may get away with it for a while, but you'll come to grief sooner or later. This little book performs its greatest service by reminding experts how horribly they can self destruct when they try to peddle snake oil. It contains example after example taken from actual transcripts where experts committed hara-kiri by ignoring one or more of the foregoing rules. At the end, the authors give a handy checklist of things to remember before testifying, and a list of "trick" questions asked by lawyers.

My first impression upon opening the package was that the book seemed awfully slender, and the price seemed awfully fat. On second thought, however,the price is a small price to pay for a guidebook which can help keep you out of shark-infested waters.