Advocacy tips

Fun top tips on advocacy site from across the pond

Winning Trial Advocacy

I will add a few:

* Do research your expert - more than 3 in 4 of us don't and take it on trust. Check out what your expert really knows about children
* Listen to the throw away lines and phrases - when I fished the video out from among my children's Disney dvds denotes a certain lack of reverence for the court process - but it is the phrase that slips out and the witness tries to distance themselves from that can be the most telling
* think about the answers to the questions - not the questions themselves
* listen to the answers - don't stick to your script slavishly
* stop when you're ahead - you don't get paid by the question - less is usually more
* watch for the witness straying out of their field - get them back to what is clinically or forensically provable
* listen for the 'I would have' done X point - did they or did they not?

More thoughts to follow.