The message to your jurors becomes: “Despite all that’s been taken from my client, look what they’re doing. When you show what your client is fighting for, the jury sees what has been taken from them even more clearly. Wilson demonstrates how your damages will increase when you embrace your client’s victor story, not their victim story. ![]() If you show the fight in your clients, their fight becomes the jurors’ fight. Wilson shows that you shouldn’t care about that story. When lawyers go with the tactic of “the poor client, their life is ruined, give them money” jurors end up feeling manipulated. Somebody they can get behind and help, long after the trial is over. Wilson argues (and has the record to prove it) that jurors care more when they see fighters up there on the stand. Referencing the work of Moe Levine, Wilson quotes that “it’s not what they took, it’s what they left behind.” The victim to victor approach focuses on showing that what they left behind is the strength of overcoming what has been taken. But a trial story that is framed around joy in the defiance of pain-and the strength it takes to strive to overcome the harm the defendant caused-empowers jurors to act. When your trial story only focuses on the pain, you risk diminishing your client or making jurors feel manipulated. Wilson explains that clients are often mischaracterized when they are solely framed in terms of what was taken from them. Throughout the book, Wilson uses what he refers to as the “victim to victor” approach to empower your clients, improve your damages arguments, and present the truth of the consequences your clients are living with-and fighting to overcome-to galvanize jurors to action. Wilson shows you how to work with your witnesses to present the right story in trial and deposition, one that inspires jurors to action through effective testimony that helps them understand the harms your client has suffered. He also introduces you to witness-preparation and case-framing tips from the trial lawyers across the country that he has worked with over the years. Wilson draws from his experiences working alongside trial teams in wrongful death cases, trucking cases, criminal cases, civil cases, and numerous brain injury cases to provide checklists, actionable steps you can immediately take, insightful case studies, trial transcripts, and more, to help you bring out the best testimony from your witnesses. Wilson has spent years helping trial lawyers and their clients discover, develop, and deliver winning testimony in trial-often resulting in multimillion-dollar verdicts. In Witness Preparation: How to Tell the Winning Story, trial consultant Jesse Wilson teaches you how to prepare your clients, experts, and lay witnesses to deliver effective testimony during both deposition and trial. ![]() However, all the witness preparation techniques in the world will be useless if you are not casting your client in their right role to tell the winning story. How do you see your witness? How will the jury see them? The judge? The defense? The more compelling-the more credible-your witnesses are, the more you increase your chances of obtaining a just outcome for your client.
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