#law

Some important points on preservation of error (from a much more senior attorney than me):

#1:  You need to get on the record any objections you may have on jury instructions—and you need to be clear; don’t namby-pamby, and don’t shut up simply b/c you think the judge might get mad;

#2:  If you can’t do that on a transcript at a charge conference

“Look, I require pinpoint cites and basically if I start reading a brief and somebody is saying something that's in the record and I'm looking at the cites and it's not in the record, it's over. You only have so much time and every lawyer only has so much credibility. I would just please beg you frankly, you know, . . don't stretch when you brief.

In every depo prep, among other things, I tell witnesses that the deposing attorney will surely do certain things.  Show you a document that says x.  And then take the question away from the document and attempt to establish a universal truth.  And when they do that, they will start the question with “so, isn’t it fair to say that.”

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