101 Things I Learned® in Law School

Whether working from good or bad facts, or good or bad law, students need to show they can use their resources to convincingly support or refute a position.

When in conflict, people rarely act from a rational, logical center.

Being honest means not telling lies.

Ways to discredit a witness Bias: Show that the witness is testifying under an immunity agreement or plea bargain, has a personal relationship with someone involved in the case, or is being paid for expertise. Contradiction:

High courts consist of a panel of judges who decide which cases they will hear. In some states they are obligated to hear appeals in specific types of cases, such as those involving the death penalty.

Anyone may give legal advice, but the recipient has to know if it is from a lawyer.

Writing effectively isn’t recording the argument one wishes to make; it is a process of discovering what one’s argument needs to be. Through writing, thinking, researching, rewriting, rethinking, and rewriting again, an argument is discovered and clarified.

Limitations: Show that the witness’s view was obstructed, or that the witness has abnormal memory due to mental incapacity or intoxication. Expertise: Show that credentials are inadequate or not specific to the subject, or that the purity of the evidence evaluated by the expert is in question.

When an answer to a question would be quite obvious and favorable to your case, it is sometimes effective to not ask it at all, and to leave the general awareness of it hanging in the courtroom air.