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Sifting the issues with stipulations: you don't need to fight over every point at trial - just the important ones. Use stipulations to streamline your case and focus the jury's attention on the issues that really matter.

Article Excerpt
You've been living with the case for ears. During that time, you've taken hundreds of depositions, digested countless pages of documents, and learned more about the defendant than you know about your spouse. Negotiations have failed, and now there is no doubt: This case is going to trial.

As your trial date approaches, one of the issues you'll address is, "Should I stipulate to anything with opposing counsel?"

Your initial reaction may be, "Of course not." After all, as a trial lawyer, you've been trained to think that every issue should be contested, every witness attacked, and every opponent destroyed. You may believe that if you agree about anything with your opponent, you'll seem weak.

But rather than adopt a "give no quarter" approach to trial, you should consider this classic military strategy about engaging in battle: Avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak. In other words, if you want to win your case, don't pick every fight. Focus on the weak parts of your opponent's case, and stipulate to the rest.

Ironically, the more complicated your case, the more important it is for you to reach agreements. Stipulating establishes your credibility with the jury, streamlines your case, and focuses the jurors' attention on the issues that really matter.

The importance of stipulations was driven home for me during a criminal case. The defendant, who was accused of shooting the victim in the head, was charged with attempted murder with a firearm and faced a potential sentence of life in prison. You might think that in such a serious case, my opponent and I would be fighting over every single issue, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Instead, a few days before trial, we found ourselves standing in the hallway behind the courtroom, telling the judge that we were stipulating to...

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