Persuasive Opening Statements Closing Arguments

Trial veterans Joseph Cotchett and Nancy Fineman deliver proven techniques for compelling and effective opening statements and closing arguments. Gain the expertise of these nationally recognized trial lawyers in planning, developing, and presenting winning opening statements and closing arguments from both plaintiff and defense perspectives. Includes valuable practice tips and actual trial transcripts of statements and arguments that provide vital guidance for both seasoned litigators and newer trial attorneys.

Jury Speech Rules shows trial lawyers that persuasive jury opening statements and closing arguments require imagination, story-telling skills, and a thorough knowledge of the legal and ethical rules that govern this important part of trial. Using famous historical cases and many useful examples, the authors demonstrate when things go wrong and when they are done right. Opening statements can present the important facts to the jury from the party's perspective, making the jurors receptive to the story that counsel intends to tell through the witnesses, documents, and visuals; well-constructed and well-delivered openings, which avoid improper argument, make an interesting introduction of the parties and the attorneys. Counsel can keep the other lawyer quiet by presenting an opening that provides no opportunity for interruption with objections. Closing arguments that can present inferences, arguments, and conclusions will help the jurors understand the significance of the facts that have been proven at trial; such arguments can explain the significance of expert testimony; they can point out logical errors in the opponents' stories; and they can win the jurors' by persuading them that the more interesting story—the more natural story, the story that fits their own experiences best—is the truthful story.

Vienna, 1909. When the celebrated actor Eugen Bischoff is found dead in his garden pavilion, suspicion falls immediately on Baron von Yosch, a well-to-do army officer who was once the lover of the dead man s wife. By all appearances the door was locked from the inside when the two shots rang out the actor took his own life, but someone, or something, drove him to it. The baron sets out to learn all he can about the actor s death in order to clear his name. Meanwhile, within a few days, similar apparent suicides are reported. What started out as a straightforward quest to establish Bischoff s last deeds and discover the truth of his death becomes a search through the ages for an invisible enemy identified only by the actor s dying breath, when he whispered: . . . the Day of Judgment. Leo Perutz combines his hallmark blend of suspense and the fantastic in this spine-tingling mystery.