Preparing for a Virginia Civil Litigation Case
What goes into developing the theory of the case is an attorney has to be able to explain to the judge or jury what the case is about and what really occurred as there will be at least two perspectives as to what happened. Attorneys want to establish what the issues for the court to resolve because the attorney that sets the issues, is the one controlling the case. What goes into that is a lot of thought, research, and work that shows how the event occurs, what the law says about the issues, and it provides a realistic explanation of events that differs from what the other side is trying to explain. The best theories are the once that are simple and clear for everyone to understand.
Read below to learn more about preparing for a Virginia civil litigation case. And if you are in a civil dispute, contact a seasoned civil litigation attorney today.
Rebutting the Opponents Case
When preparing for a Virginia civil litigation case, an experienced lawyer will look for similar civil cases in the previous years. It is rare not to find a legal issue that has been dealt with somewhere in the country over the last 230 years. An attorney could use these cases as examples to show how the courts typically address the issues that are being raised in the case.
A litigator should be able to find cases that are favorable to them so they can see what evidence they need to collect and then they can lay out the law for the judge in hopes that the judge will apply the law in their favor. They want to give the judge a road map for the case.
Planning for the Presentation of the Case
A NoVa lawyer wants to know at the outset how they think the case is going to look to a jury and keep that in mind throughout the entire litigation process. It helps them frame their issues and helps them simplify their presentation and to focus on the right evidence during discovery. They want to think at the outset what is the most logical explanation for the events and how to show that to the jury in a way that is simple, direct and not time-consuming because the juror’s time is valuable, and they do not want to waste their time or the court’s time.
Expert Testimony for Trial in NoVa
An expert’s testimony could be essential in a civil litigation case. It makes the complex issues that are not ordinarily within knowledge of lay people understandable to the judge and jury and often times will also help the attorney look into areas for discovery that they were not looking at before they got the expert involved. The expert presumably knows of all the issues that could arise with respect to their field of expertise, so they want to be able to tell the attorney where the errors occurred and what they should be guiding the attorney to collect evidence that will support the expert’s testimony and the theory of the case.
Scientific testing can be used to show how events occurred, but the science has to be established and they have to be able to show that the testing used is reliable.
What is Demonstrative Evidence?
Demonstrative evidence is evidence that demonstrates how an event occurred. It can either be a computer generation, or it can be any presentation that they show to the jury. For example, a photograph of a car accident scene may be used as demonstrative evidence.
The attorney could hire someone to put together a presentation for the jury or the attorney could put together a presentation for the jury and demonstrate to the jury what happened and what the events were that led to the case.
