There has been such a positive response to my recent posting on tips on how to present proper courtroom testimony, that I thought I would post some more practical and useful tips. These are the Lucas approach and Wigmore's Rule, which have not appeared in any publication as the last tips have, but are still as valid.

The Lucas Approach

Doug Lucas was the director of the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto between 1967 and 1994. He is probably one of the most recognized Canadian forensic scientists internationally. He was the first Canadian president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and has been intensively and actively involved with many other forensic organizations such as the Alcohol Test Committee. He has had many awards and scholarships named after him.

Doug Lucas teaching at an early Breathalyzer course in the 1950s

He had presented testimony in many court cases and has taught in the area of courtroom testimony. He devised easy to remember and valuable steps on how to respond to a lawyer's question on the stand, based on the initials of his last name:

L- isten to the question

U-nderstand the question

C-onsider your answer

A-nswer

S-hut-up or stop

Wigmore's Rule

I have also had extensive experience of courtroom testimony and have develop a sure-fire rule or alarm system of responding to lawyer's questions on the stand, especially in the heat of the moment.

"If an answer to a question will give you pleasure to say, it is invariably the wrong answer"

I have learned this rule on a number of occasions by "bitter" experience. If a lawyer is aggressively questioning you and you think of an answer that you think will really show the lawyer off and put him/her in their place, and show how smart you are, and it will give you pleasure to say- it is invariably the wrong answer and will probably get you into a sticky and worse situation on the stand.

The Author Lecturing on the Borkenstein Course, at IU, Bloomington

I found that this rule also will help you out in relationships as well. If you and your significant other are having a "discussion" and you think of a brilliant answer that will really show your spouse up, invariably you will be sleeping on the couch that night!

YouTube Video

Watch my popular YouTube video about these expert testimony tips at https://youtu.be/HtmCbmdPdXE









Wigmore on Alcohol

This forensic alcohol encyclopedia will also assist in your courtroom testimony, available from https://www.wigmoreonalcohol.com/



