Alabama Personal Injury Trial Part Two - Opening Statement
After the jury is selected then the lawyers are allowed to make an opening statement regarding the case.
This is the time to capture the interest of the jury and to lay out the facts that will give the jurors a logical and reasonable basis to come to the right decision on the case.
It is the time to engage that jury on an emotional level so that they can put themselves in the shoes of our client and understand the pain and the loss that our client has suffered due to the negligence of the defendant.
Finally, it is the time to begin convincing the jury that your side is the right side for them to be on.
The plaintiff makes the initial opening statement, and then the defendant has an opportunity to make an opening statement in response. If your only experience in seeing opening statements is on TV, (and this is true for almost all parts of a trial) then the actual opening may be different than what you have expected. Whether the opening is long or short, whether we use power point or very simple visual aids, understand that what we are trying to accomplish is to educate and persuade the Jury to ultimately render a fair verdict in your favor.
Our next topic will be Direct Examination of witnesses.
