TRANSLATING "TECHNICAL SPEAK" INTO LANGUAGE THAT THE
JURY CAN UNDERSTAND
You put your expert on the stand to testify and his testimony gets very technical. You
understand what he is talking about because you have lived with this case for the last two
years. But you can see the jury's eyes glaze over. You may have a solid technical case,
but you will probably lose it unless you can communicate it effectively to the jury.
There is no excuse for this in direct examination, because the lawyer controls the
questioning. Whenever the expert uses a term that the jury doesn't understand, the
lawyer should request a clarification, or use an analogy to bring the concept into terms
that the jury can understand. Better yet, he can use courtoom displays to demonstrate
exactly what the expert means (a picture is worth a thousand words).
"Technical speak" is just a shorthand way of describing a complicated issue. Engineers
use it because it saves time, and they all understand what is being discussed because
everyone they deal with uses the same terminology. You may have worked with an expert
so closely that you understand the technical language, and no longer even recognize
when the terminology might be confusing to the lay person.
J.L. Grover can help you develop a strategy to minimize the use of technical jargon during
direct examination and identify terms that can not be avoided. He can help you develop
a presentation that the jury will be able to understand, including courtroom displays that
demonstrate the concepts that the expert is trying to convey to the jury.
