Topics in "Real-World Trials & Real-World Tactics"
Click each topic below to skip directly to the discussion.
Rowley and Wilson delve into the story behind the damages-only trial, involving a young healthcare worker with a "caregiver's heart," whose arm was shattered in a collision with an armored truck.
What you'll learn:
Quotable moment: That's the bedrock of who I am as a trial lawyer, is trying the tough cases that nobody else wanted to touch. What is honorable and magnificent about Joseph Wilson is that's what he's done.— Rowley on trying difficult cases.
Wilson details his approach to jury selection in the case and the attorneys walk through how to approach voir dire in general.
What you'll learn:
Quotable moment:
Don’t judge them, don’t chastise them, don’t try to persuade them in front of everyone else, because it’s not going to happen. — Wilson on questioning a prospective juror adverse to your case.
Courtney Rowley joins the discussion to dissect Wilson's opening statement and discuss the art of the perfect open.
What you'll learn:
Quotable moment:
We put the dollar amount up right away. First slide. — Nick Rowley on when he brings up damages at trial.
Questioning a corporate representative
The pair discuss Wilson's approach to questioning Loomis Armored's corporate representative with an eye toward showing that the company had failed to take responsibility for the crash.
What you'll learn:
Quotable moment:
I wanted to juxtapose [defense arguments aimed at doing the right thing by plaintiff] with the reality of how Loomis has treated Kirche in this accident. — Wilson on why he called the corporate representative first in a damages trial.
Wilson and Rowley walk through best practices in putting a plaintiff's treating physician on the stand.
What you'll learn:
Quotable moment:
The Golden Rule [doesn't prohibit] asking people to understand and apply their own human experience.— Rowley on connecting the jury to the accident.
Wilson details his questioning of before-and-after witnesses, including the plaintiff's sister, who was in the car at the time of the accident, and the wife of one of the plaintiff's former clients.
What you'll learn:
Quotable moment:
It gives you so much credibility when you talk about the good parts of life.— Rowley on before-and-after testimony.
Putting the plaintiff on the stand
The pair walk through the plaintiff's testimony and discuss potential pitfalls to avoid when a plaintiff testifies.
What you'll learn:
Quotable moment:
Make sure your clients are stoic.— Rowley on putting your plaintiff on the stand.
Wilson details his closing and the two attorneys discuss issues ranging from how to argue damages to the best way to phrase a closing argument.
What you'll learn:
Quotable moment:
Those jurors are the people that have come to your cookout. — Rowley on how to speak to a jury in closings.
The pair take questions from the attendees in a wide-ranging discussion and recommend the books that have most influenced their own trial technique.
Trial By Human by Nicholas Rowley and Steven Halteman
David Ball on Damages: A Plaintiff's Attorney's Guide to Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases by David Ball
Rules of the Road A Plaintiff Lawyer's Guide to Proving Liability by Rick Friedman and Patrick Malone
Don’t Eat the Bruises: How to Foil Their Plans to Spoil Your Case by Keith Mitnik
Next Steps
CVN offers hours of video on the topics Rowley and Wilson discussed. Here's where to head next in our library.
Watch the full trial, Hall v. Loomis Armored, now.
Learn about all the truck crash trials in CVN's library.
Joseph Wilson's trials on CVN.
Watch Nick Rowley's voir dire in a Washington state medical malpractice trial.