Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Litigation
Publication Date
1976
Abstract
Experienced litigating attorneys are well aware of the vital importance of eliciting all relevant facts from the client and helping the client─who, typically, is not skilled at articulation─to marshall and to express his or her case as persuasively as possible. The poorly educated day laborer who has suffered an injury, and who can only say, "It hurts bad," must be helped to articulate what the pain is like, when it is present, and how it interferes with work, sleep, family life, and recreation. Also, the statement, "I hurt myself while I was working," will not be enough. The relevant details must be elicited through skilled questioning, and the witness must then be sufficiently rehearsed to assure that no important evidence will be overlooked in testimony at trial, where leading questions will not be permitted.
Recommended Citation
Monroe H. Freedman,
Counseling the Client: Refreshing Recollection or Prompting Perjury, 2 Litigation 35
(1976)
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_scholarship/470