Trial Magazine

On the Jury Trial: Principles and Practices for Effective Advocacy

By Thomas M. Melshelmer and Judge Craig Smith
University of North Texas Press
288 pp., $22.95
untpress.unt.edu

As plaintiff lawyers, we grow in our practices by learning from peers who have an instructive courtroom experience or a unique approach. On the Jury Trial—written by Thomas Melsheimer, a Texas trial lawyer, and Judge Craig Smith, who was a trial lawyer before joining the bench in Dallas County—offers practical guidance from a different perspective and includes applicable trial examples that are valuable for experienced practitioners and new lawyers alike.

The book focuses primarily on business dispute and intellectual property trials, but the common threads between trial work in these areas and others—such as personal injury cases—are evident immediately.

One of my favorite examples of persuasive advocacy was a simple question asked on direct examination. The attorney was eliciting testimony from a plaintiff suing to protect his intellectual property—in this case, a special contact lens that he had designed. After asking about the challenges the plaintiff encountered when creating the lens, the lawyer asked, “Did you give up on your research?” The answer—“no”—jumps off the page as powerful and sincere, as does the rest of the plaintiff’s explanation about how he fought for what he believed was a good idea. The question gave the plaintiff the opportunity to directly speak to the trial theme: the plaintiff’s determination and persistence.

The book presents various other ideas that I look forward to implementing in my cases. For example, the authors suggest asking your expert how he or she became interested in the field to humanize the expert. Another suggestion is beginning the cross of an opposing expert with “let’s see if there are some things we can agree on” to start on your case’s strengths while acknowledging that there are issues on which you do not agree.

New trial lawyers may find On the Jury Trial particularly useful. One of the book’s strongest assets is its practical discussion of how to prepare a witness for trial, a task that new attorneys frequently face. Other topics such as jury selection, preparing an opening statement, and how best to approach cross-examination—including whether to conduct one at all—are also well covered. Overall, the book shares many invaluable points, frequently outside the context of typical plaintiff trial work, and it offers readers tips and ideas that they may not have seen elsewhere.

Patrick Salvi II is an attorney at Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard in Chicago. He can be reached at psalvi2@salvilaw.com.