The Louisiana Association for Justice has invited Rick Morefield to speak at its annual “Winning with the Masters” continuing legal education program on December 9, 2011. Mr. Morefield will speak on “The Art of Advocacy: Lessons from Preachers.” Great preachers and great trial lawyers share many similar skills and techniques. Mr. Morefield will discuss how to apply the techniques of great preachers to trial advocacy so that lawyers can obtain the right results for the right reasons.  Mr. Morefield is a founding shareholder and director of Bottaro, Morefield, Kubin & Yocum, P.C., a Leawood, Kansas firm providing personal injury and business litigation services in Missouri and Kansas.

On August 6, 2011, Rick Morefield will be one of three speakers at the American Bar Association – Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Program entitled May it Please the Court. The seminar will take place at the ABA Annual meeting in Toronto, Canada and it will focus on four topics important to trial lawyers – recusal of judges, written advocacy at the trial and appellate levels, oral advocacy at trial and on appeal and preserving the record on appeal.  Mr. Morefield’s presentation will focus on each of the topics from the perspective of the trial lawyer.  The other speakers are Judge Mary Jane Trapp of the Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals and John Nieman, Alabama’s state Solicitor General.  Judge Trapp will discuss each of these topics from the perspective of an appellate judge and Mr. Nieman will discuss each of the topics from the perspective of an appellate lawyer.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth thousands more. Today’s jurors are accustomed to computer generated special effects in movies, they are used to the rewind and fast forward capabilities of DVD players and DVR units and they are used to virtually everything of interest appearing in video on the web within minutes of when it occurs.

Lawyers need to catch up with the times and incorporate video techniques into their trial presentations. Video is now inexpensive and easy enough that it can be used economically in most cases.

This post will discuss the use of video depositions for impeachment at trial. Impeachment is technique where an attorney uses the prior sworn testimony of a witness to demonstrate to the jury that the witness has changed his or her story. Impeachment with video is far more devastating to the liar on the witness stand than the traditional method using a written deposition transcript. (more…)