How to Deliver Compelling Opening Statements
by Susan G. Trivers, MBA & Carolyn S. Koch, J.D.You are delivering your opening statement for a trial you’ve long worked towards. One by one the jurors rivet their eyes on you, and they begin to nod in rhythm with your cadence. They maintain eye contact with you as you look carefully into their eyes. You sense that each of them is paying attention to you with their whole being. You have made an incredible first impression.
How well does this description reflect the reality of your opening statements? If this is more wishful thinking than reality, you can learn how to make it happen for you.
If lawyers read the transcript of their openings, they’d be surprised to hear what really came out of their mouths – a lot of jumping around, legalese, and assumptions that jurors know what the lawyers are talking about.
Lawyers are doing a million and twelve things before trial so when it comes time for the most important piece of it – their opening – they unfortunately wing it. The result is a jury that is confused, not compelled by your story.
There is a better way and it includes two necessary ingredients. One is advance preparation – there’s no way around it. The second ingredient is working with an expert which is no different than professional athletes working with a coach. When you approach opening statements in this way, you will see that there’s a way to focus on the facts so that the themes arise organically, enabling you to craft and deliver a compelling story. When you approach it this way, you will be surprised at the clear road map you provide – not only for the jurors, but for yourself. A properly prepared opening statement will help you clarify your entire trial strategy so you know where you need to go with each witness who takes the stand.
The following key elements will help you transform your opening statements into compelling stories and crystal clear roads maps during your greatest opportunity to connect with the jury.
- Working with outside experts who can truly be objective. (Not support staff, spouses, in-house counsels, or clients).
- Incorporating the practices used by professional speakers
- Scheduling ample time for preparation
1) Bringing in objective outside expertise
You need two specific experts. The first is a trial consultant and the second is an experienced executive speech coach.The trial consultant whose specialty is trial research will drive you to the transcendent issue that will unite jurors, no matter their inherent differences. Once you have identified this issue, the trial consultant will help you organize the facts to give you a crystal clear roadmap of your entire case. You’ll know the strengths and weaknesses of your case and the order in which to call your witnesses. You’ll know where to start, where to make stops along the way, and the final destination.
You must be clear about your case in order for the jury to be clear about your case. When you articulate the compelling story that is corroborated by compelling facts, you help the jury gain clarity. Your trial consultant will approach the case with the objectivity necessary to clarify the trial strategy that will impact the whole trial. Then she will help you craft an opening statement that doesn’t get weighted down in legalese and excess verbiage.
2) Incorporating into your opening statement the best practices used by professional speakers
Your second outside expert, an executive speech coach, will show you how to incorporate the best practices of persuasive keynote speakers into your opening statements. A keynote speech kicks off a meeting, conference or convention. It sets the stage for the days to come. It raises the energy level and the commitment to the cause. You want to do the same with your opening statement.Your speech coach will help you craft the content of the opening statement using the trial strategy you have worked out with the trial consultant. You’ll learn how to put the audience of jurors first, by appealing to their self-interests. You’ll articulate the strengths of the case in language that resonates with the lay people who are in your jury. You’ll increase the impact of your delivery with vocal variety, physical movements and gestures that will make your opening statement clearly remembered for the duration of the trial.
When you work with an executive speech coach, you will realize that to be a great speaker, capable of convincing strangers to the justness of your cause, you don’t have to be dramatic, flashy, or take acting courses. With the proper practice and training, you will get powerful results while being true to your own personality.
3) Scheduling ample time for opening statement preparation
"Not enough time" is the excuse that keeps us all from doing what we need to do. When "not enough time" dictates preparation strategy, the results are predictable.You have experience with opening statements and you know the law and the facts of the case. You tell yourself you can jot down some notes a day or two before trial, and count on your prior experience to get you through the opening statement.
If you want to confirm the downsides to this approach, just start reading some trial transcripts of opening statements and you will see how easy it is for an experienced lawyer to speak in what sounds like pure stream of consciousness. What does "legal stream of consciousness" look like?
- You present the facts in an incoherent order
- You rattle off one legal term after another
- You intimidate the jury
- You anger the jury
- You bore the jury
- Your personal style makes a negative impression
- The jury reads something in your face and body language that makes them distrust you
- You lose the audience of jurors in the first few minutes and spend the rest of the trial fighting to get them back
Your trial consultant and executive speech coach can take you from the initial outline of the case through the creation of a clear trial strategy, the crafting of your opening statement and rehearsals to incorporate outstanding speaking style in 5-6 hours. If you start this a couple of weeks before the trial you will be able to make time for your discussions and practices, and get to the courtroom ready to make a favorable first impression that stays with the jury through deliberations.
If you’ve been doing the same things over and over, with some success, you might wonder if you really can do better. Do you really need outside experts in order to create an objective, crystal clear trial strategy and craft and deliver your opening statement? Consider the following:
- You may have spent years working the case. You know the ins and outs in great detail. This intimate knowledge is the most important reason why an objective look is so valuable. Your trial consultant and speech coach will force you to explain many things you assume and could take for granted.
- You’re under extreme pressure and severe public scrutiny, both of which cause stress on you. Stress is a barrier to the clear thinking and confidence you need to be effective with your opening statement.
- People get used to living with unsolved problems, such as your typical opening statements. Just because your typical opening statement is comfortable doesn’t mean it is the dynamic opening statements your case needs.
- People aren’t really aware of the impression they make, and are often afraid to learn things about themselves. Outside experts will reflect back to you things that may make you uncomfortable
Imagine yourself, confident in your content and delivery, speaking to the jury at the opening of a trial. You are not putting everything at risk, you are not going to muddle through, you are not going to turn the jurors off with an abundance of legal talk and arcane details.
You are going to show the jury body language, facial expressions and gestures that capture them. You are going to take them on a journey from the start to the finish, using compelling stories animated by vocal variety. You will look them in the eyes, and have them looking back at you. You will give them images and ideas that they will carry with them throughout the trial. They will be nodding and leaning forward, demonstrating with their own body language that you have connected to them. When you finish, you will sit down with the confidence of a job well done and you will have earned the confidence of the jurors for the coming days or weeks. That’s the way to begin a trial.
Susan G. Trivers, MBA, speaker, executive speaking coach and author of The Red-Hot Guide to COOL Speaking—Craft and Deliver Presentations that are Creative, Original, Outsized & Liberated. She brings audience-focused principles of speaking to professionals and executives who need to be more attractive, magnetic and memorable to their audiences.
Carolyn S. Koch, J.D., is a trial consultant and the principal of Jury Solutions LLC, a trial consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia. At Jury Solutions, LLC, we use reliable methods to uncover the truth about your case, warts and all. Whether our approach helps you seize victory or avert disaster, we can promise you a clear-eyed strategy that will help you make the best possible decisions for your case and client. More information is available at www.jurysolutions.com.
