The Best Defense is a Good Offense: Especially at Trial

March 16, 2010 - PRLog -- LOS ANGELES, CALIF.--Defense attorneys need to craft their own story to tell at trial and not just defend against what plaintiffs present, says Dr. Noelle Nelson, a trial consultant for more than 20 years for both plaintiff and defense.

   "For the plaintiffs, their story is obvious: there’s a wrong to be righted," says Nelson, "Plaintiffs always have a story to tell. For the defense side, this is equally true, though not always acknowledged."

   Nelson cautions that trying to present "the other side of the plaintiff's story" places the control in the plaintiff’s hands. "By doing so, the plaintiff defines the terms of the game, the boundaries of play," explains Nelson. "The defense must present an entirely different scenario for jurors to experience. Now, the playing field is level. Jurors can choose to be convinced by one story or the other."

   Nelson believes the truism “the best defense is a good offense” applies here. Nelson uses a medical malpractice case as an example. "As part of the defense story, the defense could include how the doctor's procedures are highly regarded--the best possible and safest course given the patient’s condition," says Nelson. "The defense could also show how that doctor had seen prior excellent results from the procedure, how diagnostics validated the doctor's choices, explain how the doctor used a well-thought out decision-making process, and, if this were the case, how the plaintiff neglected to follow the doctor's instructions. Also included could be alternate causes for the plaintiff’s current condition."

   The story-telling approach pays off, says Nelson. "As laborious as the above may seem, giving the jurors a rich and many-pronged defense story instead of simply defending against specific plaintiff claims will greatly increase the chances of the defense winning case."

   For more trial techniques, go to Nelson's blog, "A Winning Tip," http://awinningtip.blogspot.com, or for her articles and books, http://www.noellenelson.com/Trial_Consulting.cfm.