Hon. (Ret.) Ken E. Adair 
Fortuna Eruditis Favet
Trial preparation can be among the most grueling parts of the trial process. It is a necessary step toward ensuring you have the tools to succeed on your client’s behalf. Many trial lawyers prepare with a to-do list of items to check off. They make sure they have police reports, any medical reports, witness affidavits and other documentation neatly arranged in well-organized trial books. They measure their effort in terms of sleepless nights and time sequestered from family while they pore through files and memorize minutia.
This technical approach will get a trial lawyer the proverbial gold star for filling a bankers’ box with documents but it might not be the best way to win at trial. Detailed recitations of evidence may not resonate with jurors who are not versed in the law and are unfamiliar with the facts of the case. For most who serve on a jury, the technical aspects of a case — even such fundamental concepts as which statute was violated and how — can be much less salient than the overall story.
Evidence can lull juries into a trance where a compelling story keeps them engaged and builds sympathy. Who did what to whom for what reason? And how did they do it? Those are the questions that will keep jurors’ imaginations captivated.
Be Prepared to Tell Your Client’s Story
Trial preparation services by Trial.Win help ensure that you have the most important piece of preparation down pat: the mindset and ability to speak to jurors in a way that holds their attention and allows your point to resonate. With years of experience both on and off the bench, Ken can help you craft a winning narrative that drives home the points you need to make and prepare you to execute your trial strategy in the best way possible.
Using the narrative arc as the overall direction for how your trial should go, we work from opening to closing statements to help bridge the gaps. It’s not that Ken doesn’t like preparing trial books. He does. He compares trial binders, and any other evidence studied and analyzed during trial prep to be like arrows – each potentially useful, but none as important as the hunt and the quarry being hunted.
Ken believes that you should have every proverbial arrow available in your quiver so you can quickly advance or defeat a point of contention. Even if only 20% of the materials prepared are used during trial, the peace of mind that an attorney has knowing he or she is ready for any eventuality is worth its weight in gold. But a trial is not about shooting arrows straight and true. The trial is about persuasively telling your client’s story.
Betrayal and Justice Build Courtroom Intrigue
In every courtroom story, portraying an element of betrayal is the golden key to success. Betrayal is an easily understandable and universal concept that easily holds a jury’s attention. Using the concept of betrayal as a jumping off point, Ken shapes the story you or he tells the jury so that it works to serve your client client’s interest. It starts with a storytellers mindset.
Putting a trial attorney in the right mindset requires more than the creation of a story centered around betrayal; it requires active commitment to messaging and explaining facts to the jury in a way that is memorable. Long after you’ve finished your examination, cross examination, and opening and closing arguments, long after a verdict is entered, your work with Ken and the Trial.Win First Chair Academy will help your trial strategies stand out in the jury room.
Working off the trial book as the “trial bible,” everything is meticulously researched to provide the most accurate and concise description of evidence, events, or other information. Each and every piece of documentation is categorized to be readily available at crucial points in the trial. In a complex trial, a trial book is prepared for each witness so your ability to glean the most useful facts or pieces of information from them is totally unconstrained during the time they are available to testify.
Prepare Your Story of Betrayal and Justice Now
Ken’s years of courtroom experience and his unique ability to craft a narrative that jurors remember make his trial preparation services a vital component to your winning case. He scales his services to fit your needs in the context of whatever pending matter inspired you to bring in support to best represent your client.
For colleagues interested in trial preparation and trial consultant services, Ken starts with a two-hour session to establish a baseline direction for the trial narrative. Some cases require more technical preparation than others. Sometimes the key element Ken brings as a trial consultant to trial preparation is simply identifying and shaping a story that will resonate with jurors. If you choose to keep Ken around through the trial prep process, he offers hourly, daily and weekly arrangements, depending on the complexity and requirements of the matter set for trial.
To get started with trail preparation services, to explore a co-counsel relationship or to learn more about the value of pre-trial focus groups contact Hon. (Ret.) Ken Adair at (918) 984-9359.
