Having a hard time connecting with your witness? Try these tips

You’re a plaintiffs attorney with a promising tort case, but getting the narrative evidence you need from a particular witness is like squeezing blood from a stone. How can you get through to them and help ensure that your client gets the damages needed for long-term care? The real problem might be that your communication styles are fundamentally different, says author and trial consultant Katherine James.

Properly preparing one’s witness is key to a successful outcome, but lawyers can’t assume that every witness has the same learning style that they do, James says. She provides tools for figuring out communication and learning styles in her book, Harvesting Witnesses’ Stories: How to Get your Client the Second Best Life in the World by Maximizing Human Damages.

In this episode of the Modern Law Library, James explains to the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles how she draws from her background in the theater to advise lawyers. James shares some of her war stories from her many years as a trial consultant and offers advice to listeners about how they can achieve the best outcome for their injured clients.