Understanding the Audience

• Author: Daniel Small
• Profession: Is a partner in the Boston and Miami of ces of Holland & Knight LLP
• Pages: 31-34

Regardless of who is in the room for the witness’s testimony—lawyers at a

deposition, investigators at an interview, and so on—the ultimate audience

for that testimony is generally the nder of fact. That nder of fact comes

in various forms, but it is most often a jury, so it is important to examine

and understand that audience.

It has become fashionable to bash juries. Certainly, there are examples of

juries doing irrational or foolish things. Strangely enough, they have good

company in that: lawyers, doctors, business tycoons, and even politicians

have all been guilty of similar aws. Perhaps when we refer to a jury of our

peers, we should accept that that means imperfect human beings, capable

of the best and worst in all of us.

In fact, though, I have found that juries are capable of great collective

wisdom. Most jurors genuinely want to do a good job and to do the right

thing. I don’t like to talk about jurors as an amorphous blob. Help your

witness understand by personalizing Juror #6. Describe him or her in a way

that means something to your witness, and then pose the challenge “How

do we reach Juror #6?” A large part of the job of both counsel and witness

is to teach jurors your case. They are willing students. If a willing student

doesn’t learn adequately, whose fault is that: student or teacher?

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Chapter 9

Understanding the Audience

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