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Put simply, make your experts teach.

Article Excerpt
Judge Gunn appointed Angus to defend a criminal case, and a number of us went down to watch the trial, including some of the students from my trial tactics class. It was an insanity defense--those are hard cases to win--but by the time Angus finished with the direct examination of his expert witness, all the spectators we talked to were ready to acquit the defendant right then.

Later, when we talked to Angus in the Brief Bag, one of my students, Danielle Washington, said she was particularly impressed: "I've never seen a psychiatrist be so down-to-earth or make so much sense."

"Dr. Winter is a good witness," said Angus.

"That's not all there is to it," said Danielle. "You've got some secrets for how you examine experts."

"He has a method--a whole system," said Regis McCormick, who has been practicing for two or three years now. "This is the second time I've seen him examine an expert, and I meant to concentrate on how he does it, but I got so interested in the doctor's testimony, I forgot to take notes on what Angus was doing."

Angus smiled. "That's the way it's supposed to be," he said. "It would never do for the jury to concentrate on me instead of on my witness."

"Well, I'm not too proud to ask," said Regis. "How'd you do that?"

"Right," said Danielle. "Give us...