8 Effective Tips for Direct Examination

Written by Jarrett Stone

Direct examination plays a vital role in your case. As a result, you must focus on the facts when developing your story, review the evidence, organize the case, and end on a strong point.

Therefore, it's important to make the most of direct examination.

This post provides the best tips and tricks on drafting a direct examination for a witness in a case. Read on to elevate your trial skills. 

Preparation is key

When you have limited time, it's easy to jump ahead and start writing out your direct examination questions. But skipping preparation is not a good idea, so you must resist the urge. Preparation is key when it comes to giving a great direct examination.

If you know your case inside and out, you'll be able to ask clear and on-point questions. You'll also be able to anticipate objections and plan how to overcome them. By being prepared, you'll instill confidence in both yourself and the jury.

When preparing for direct examination of a witness, there are some key things to remember. As you review the facts of the case, ask yourself the following questions:

  • What story will I tell the jury based on these facts?
  • What role will my direct examination play in that story?
  • What are the favorable or unfavorable facts that this will add to or take away from that story?
  • What do you want the witness to say?
  • What points do you want them to cover?

Once you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish, start formulating your questions. Make sure they're clear and concise so the witness knows the information you're looking for.

Keep in mind that the other side will probably object to some of your questions. Be prepared to respond to the objections. If an objection is sustained, don't get discouraged. Simply move on to your next question or rephrase your last question.

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Focus on the facts when developing your story

Good stories win trials, but confusing messages with no clear calls to action lose. When you are questioning a witness as part of direct examination, it is important to focus on the facts. This means you should ask questions that elicit specific information about what happened.

You should avoid asking leading questions, which are questions that suggest the answer you want the witness to give. Otherwise, you can raise a leading objection and ruin the rhythm of your direct. Focus on open-ended questions that allow the witness to provide information. 

Develop a theme and theory

As a lawyer, you need to be able to develop a theme or theory for your case. This will help you organize your thoughts better and constructively present your argument. 

Here are some tips on how to develop a theme or theory for your case:

  • Start by identifying the main issue in your case. What is the central question that needs to be answered?
  • Once you have identified the main issue, start brainstorming possible explanations for what happened. What are the different ways that this issue could be explained?
  • After brainstorming possible explanations, choose the one you think is most likely true. This will be your theory or theme.
  • After choosing your theory or theme, start gathering evidence to support it. This could include witness testimony, documents, or other types of evidence.
  • The conclusion should summarize your argument and explain why your theory or theme is the most likely explanation for what happened.

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Review the evidence

Ask yourself what the favorable and unfavorable facts of each witness are. You can draw a straight line separating favorable and unfavorable in your notebook. It will help you review the evidence properly to identify all the facts favorable to your story.

Look for photographs, statements from witnesses, and anything that can help you bring the story to life. By reviewing the evidence, you should also begin to anticipate the questions that the other side will eventually ask (on direct or cross examination). This will help you be better prepared to handle the other side's case. 

Additionally, this exercise will allow you to identify gaps in your case and develop a strategy for addressing them. Take the time to review the evidence and better understand the facts of the case. This way, you will become a more effective advocate for your client. 

Organize your direct examination

You typically organize your direct examination in one of two ways: chronological or topographical. In chronological organization, you start at the beginning and walk your witness through the events in a timeline fashion. With topographical organization, you organize the direct by topic.

Topographical is usually the default because you can easily structure the questions so that the direct starts and ends on a strong note.

Either way, you should start with an introduction by asking questions that tell the jury about your witness. Once the jury is oriented, then you can jump into the events.

Since people tend to remember the beginning and end of testimony, make sure that your last series of questions are hard hitting.

Script your questions

Now, it's time to write down your direct examination. Putting your ideas down on paper helps to keep your story from getting derailed.

Again, be sure to avoid leading questions. 

Also, craft your questions to keep your witness focused on the theme of your case, which means that you should avoid overly vague questions. You can achieve this with "looping." 

For instance, instead of only asking a witness, "What were you doing that day?" point them in a particular direction. You can loop by asking "When you were standing in front of your house, where was the defendant?"

But, for looping to work, you need to loop in previous testimony. Otherwise, you can raise an objection for assuming facts not in evidence. In other words, looping requires that you start the question by repeating a portion of the witness's previous testimony to frame your question. 

Q: Where were you at the time of the incident?

A: I was standing in front of my house

Q: When you were standing in front of your house, where was the Defendant?

This way, you will point the witness where you want them to go, without asking leading questions. 

Deal with the unfavorable facts

Bring out those negative facts that you wrote down on the other side of the paper so you can deal with them. By addressing the negative facts during a direct examination, it allows your witness to address the "bad" on their own terms before being crossed on it. 

Just remember that if you bring up these negative facts, then you're likely waiving any objection to them. 

End on a strong point

Hit on a point that resonates with your call to action. You need something that will give that human touch in front of the jury. Make sure your last question is clear and concise. The jury should understand what you are asking and why it is important.

Conclusion

A direct examination allows you to tell your story through your witnesses. It is the most common type of questions in a trial setting because it helps you build your case and its theme. 

With the above tips, you'll leave no stone unturned when presenting the case to the jury. You'll also have the ability to potentially use the opposing side's strengths against them. 

If you're looking to improve your trial advocacy skills, then Law Venture is here to help! Learn more by checking out our blog and online courses

About the Author

Jarrett Stone is the founder of Law Venture and owner of Stone Firm, PLLC. He's a husband, entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed nerd.

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8 Effective Tips for Direct Examination

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