Imagine you're in the middle of trial.

It's a medical malpractice trial.

You've sued your doctor.

Claiming he was careless.

Claiming his carelessness caused you injury.

Claiming your injury is permanent.

Your doctor says your claim is full of baloney.

He says he did nothing wrong.

He says you caused your own injuries.

He also says that if he did something careless, it didn't cause your injury.

Then, as a final twist of the knife, he argues that your injuries aren't that bad anyway.

There's no way your case will be settled.

The defense refuses to negotiate.

That means your case will go the distance.

To trial.

After two or three years of hard-fought litigation.

You'll finally get to trial.

You'll get to present your evidence.

You'll get to present your testimony.

The jury will hear your medical experts.

The jury will hear the defense witnesses.

They will hear from the defense's medical experts as well.

Six members of the community will decide if you are more likely right than wrong.

The jury will get to listen to cross-examination of the defense witnesses.

They will also be watching closely cross examination of your witnesses.

During cross examination, an attorney's goal is to  show that the witness is lying.

His goal is to show that he's being less than truthful.

His goal is to show that his testimony is inconsistent.

His goal is to show the jury that this witness cannot be believed.

It's really to destroy his credibility.

There are many ways to do this.

Imagine if your attorney scores a few points and is able to show the witness is shading the truth.

Or maybe he's confronted with an outright lie.

Your lawyer would love nothing more than to show the jury that you and he were right.

He'd love to stand in front of the jury and scream out loud and clear "SEE? I TOLD YOU HE WAS A LIAR!"

But he can't.

What if he were to do a touchdown dance after scoring some points with this opposing witness?

Do you think the jury would appreciate it?

Do you think the judge would appreciate it?

Do you think it makes the attorney look professional?

The answers are no, no and no.

It's never appropriate for an attorney to gloat during trial.

It's never Ok to do a touchdown dance after making your point.

It's showboating.

The better practice is to make your point and move on.

The jury knows what you just accomplished.

The judge knows what you just got the witness to do.

The jury will remember this point during their deliberations.

Besides, on closing argument, your attorney is going to remind them of this critical point.

On the other hand, imagine your lawyer has just devastated the defense's expert.

He's just shown the jury that he was wrong.

He's just proven to everyone in the courtroom that testimony he gave in another case clearly contradicted what he's saying in your case.

Your lawyer looks to the jury and does a fist pump.

He takes that imaginary football and spikes it in the end zone.

He starts jumping up and down in the courtroom for joy that he just destroyed the opposing expert.

This would make your attorney look ridiculous.

In the courtroom, there's no place for these antics.

On the playing field, in professional football, sure.

It's done all the time.

Not in the courtroom.

Not in a medical malpractice trial.

Not in a car accident trial.

Not in a wrongful death trial.

Not for your attorney.

Not for the defense attorney.

It's just not done.

To learn more about why it's not done, I invite you to watch the quick video below...

 

Gerry Oginski
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NY Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Trial Lawyer
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