Should You Memorize Your Opening?
Transcription
Sari de la Motte here, I'm based in Portland, Oregon. I specialize in helping attorneys communicate with jurors.
I'm often asked the question, should I memorize my opening? And the answer is yes and no. We don't want to memorize our opening word-for-word, because what we don't want it to come out as some rehearsed speech. I had a conversation with a very well known attorney a couple years ago, who said he rarely prepares or practices for opening, because he doesn't want to sound too rehearsed.
But we also don't want to go all the way over to that side where we don't practice. This applies not just to opening, but also for witness prep. I say, "Look, we're not here to "rehearse" lines for a play. What we're here to do is "practice," like soccer practice. At soccer practice you go out, you kick the ball, you run through the plays, but at the actual game, it's going to turn out a little bit different. But at least you've run through the plays, so it feels familiar."
Are there certain things you should memorize? Absolutely. The opening rule. Transitions. Probably your last closing paragraph of the opening, so that it ends very strongly. But other than that, I would suggest that you just memorize the structure. If you're using, for example, David Ball's structure, you would memorize the opening rule, and then you would memorize the story, in terms of the structure, and then, you'd memorize who we're suing and why, and so on and so forth, so that you know where you're going. Now, once you've done that, I suggest you read your opening three to five times out loud. That will get the words in your mouth. Once you actually have read it out loud three to five times where the words are exactly as written, I suggest you get up and you practice it with the memorized structure, and just let it flow however it comes out.
Once you've read it word-for-word three to five times, and practiced it three to five times not trying to get it word-for-word, you should feel fairly confident walking into court and delivering your opening without any problems at all. Look, we want to get you to the point where you feel prepared, but not rehearsed. And there's this really nice middle ground between those two things, which I hope I've been able to outline today.
I'm often asked the question, should I memorize my opening? And the answer is yes and no. We don't want to memorize our opening word-for-word, because what we don't want it to come out as some rehearsed speech. I had a conversation with a very well known attorney a couple years ago, who said he rarely prepares or practices for opening, because he doesn't want to sound too rehearsed.
But we also don't want to go all the way over to that side where we don't practice. This applies not just to opening, but also for witness prep. I say, "Look, we're not here to "rehearse" lines for a play. What we're here to do is "practice," like soccer practice. At soccer practice you go out, you kick the ball, you run through the plays, but at the actual game, it's going to turn out a little bit different. But at least you've run through the plays, so it feels familiar."
Are there certain things you should memorize? Absolutely. The opening rule. Transitions. Probably your last closing paragraph of the opening, so that it ends very strongly. But other than that, I would suggest that you just memorize the structure. If you're using, for example, David Ball's structure, you would memorize the opening rule, and then you would memorize the story, in terms of the structure, and then, you'd memorize who we're suing and why, and so on and so forth, so that you know where you're going. Now, once you've done that, I suggest you read your opening three to five times out loud. That will get the words in your mouth. Once you actually have read it out loud three to five times where the words are exactly as written, I suggest you get up and you practice it with the memorized structure, and just let it flow however it comes out.
Once you've read it word-for-word three to five times, and practiced it three to five times not trying to get it word-for-word, you should feel fairly confident walking into court and delivering your opening without any problems at all. Look, we want to get you to the point where you feel prepared, but not rehearsed. And there's this really nice middle ground between those two things, which I hope I've been able to outline today.