What Matters Is What They Hear

You could have the most eloquent delivery ever presented in a courtroom, but if the jury does not hear what you have to say, it’s all wasted effort. Although you may present a topic using sophisticated presentation aids, actual success depends on the recipient. Your responsibility is to ensure that the target of your presentation “gets it.” Far too many presenters focus on the presentation and not enough on the perception or reception of that presentation.

Take the time to really sell your presentation. Whether you are teaching a jury how a disk drive works, or responding to cross-examination, get your message across.

Communication involves three critical components:

• Sender
• Message
• Receiver

The sender is the party who prepares and sends the message. The sender is responsible for all aspects of the actual message. The sender chooses message content, tone, style, delivery medium, and recipient. It’s the responsibility of the sender to ensure that the receiver understands the message.

The message is the actual content that you are sending. The sender creates and sends the message to the receiver via the chosen media. The message itself consists of the body of the message, along with the “tone” of the message. The tone of a message can be influenced by choice of vocabulary, punctuation, and structure. For example, these two text messages are identical except for their tone:

1. Please come to my office.

2. PLEASE COME TO MY OFFICE!!!

Clearly, the second message creates more anticipation (and dread). You can create the same distinction using your vocal tone. You can add emphasis to certain words or phrases to make them stand out. Don’t overdo it, though—you must remain believable and credible. If you rely on theatrics to make your points, you will lose credibility in the long run.

Listening

Listening is an important and often overlooked skill. Use your listening ability to take in as much as you can in the courtroom. The judge’s statements and actions can tell you a lot about how you should act. It may change daily, too. Judges and juries are regular people who have bad days just like we all do.

Listening allows you to “test the waters” without making a mistake by charging ahead in the wrong direction. Both legal teams can direct you through the questions they ask. As a rule of thumb, go in the direction your own legal counsel leads you. If opposing counsel leads you in some particular direction, pay close attention to what’s going on. They could be trying to trip you up.

Listening always helps you to be more prepared when you do take the stand. To communicate well, use your ears more often than your mouth.

Tone

Because you are an expert, you will be perceived to have superior knowledge in one or more specific areas that pertain to the case. Many people are intimidated by people with superior knowledge or experience. Always avoid using tones in your voice that can be interpreted by others as being haughty. You cannot gain respect through intimidation; rather, you risk losing respect if you use a tone that infers superiority, condescension, impatience, or hostility.

Try to switch into “teacher mode.” Take the time to explain topics that are not clear to one or more people in the courtroom. A good teacher evaluates where students are and approaches them to move them toward understanding. An expert witness cannot interact directly with jurors in the same manner a teacher does, but you can still be respectful and try to convey the essence of your message. Any time you talk “down” to a judge or jury you risk creating feelings of resentment. Jurors who resent you may not be very favorable to you during deliberations.

It looks like mom and dad were right when they said, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it that counts.” Make sure the jury has an opportunity to perceive you as pleasant. It will matter.

Vocabulary

As previously discussed, the job of the expert witness is to explain complex topics or procedures to laypeople. You must use words and phrases that explain and do not confuse judges and juries. Avoid using too many industry-specific terms and acronyms. For instance, talking about the “TCP and UDP packets traveling between the server and the client” will likely confuse most people. To make good use of such language, you will first have to explain:

• How information travels across networks
• How networks split messages into smaller chunks, called packets
• What a server is and what is does
• What a client is and what it does
• Networking protocols (basic introduction)
• TCP and UDP protocols

That might look like a lot of explaining to do just to address a fairly simple concept. But that’s your job as an expert witness, so do your best to revel in this work. Make the complex seem simple and be careful which words you choose. The more successfully you use common, everyday language in your explanations, the more effective your presentation will be.

Words Matter

If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.

• Mark Twain

Although it should go without saying, always tell the truth. Present the facts and offer your professional non-biased opinion. The facts tell a story and your job as an expert witness is to tell that story to the jury in a manner that enables them to easily understand the story the evidence tells. The facts speak to the truth of the evidence, so always speak the truth.