Dan Ambrose · Przemek Lubecki
TLU Trial Skills Bootcamps: Mastering the SKILLS that will put you on the path to Greatness.
November 3, 2025 ||
Dan and Przemek will breakdown performance and presentation skills; the Four Cornerstones of Trial:
Performance Skills
Consistently getting big verdicts is a combination of trial strategy and connection a.k.a. “performance skills.” The goal of opening statements and closing arguments to make the jury witnesses to the events of your client’s life, so they not only understand what happened, but they will experience it and feel it too. Great lawyers “tranceport” the jury back in space and time.
In this presentation we will watch a dashcam video and see scene photos from a semi v motorcycle wrongful death case.
We will apply the skills of connection;
- Eye contact
- State control
- Hand movement
- Voice control
- Glance control
- Creating space
To tell the story so the jurors feel like they are at the side of the road witnessing this needless death.
Dan will work with one of the participants to “Bring their opening to life”
Cross examination requires both knowledge/strategy and skill. This lecture will focus on improving your skills. The core skills to master to improve the effectiveness of your delivery are:
- Leading questions only
- One new fact per question
- Looping
- Drop the tag lines like; “right, correct, isn’t that true, true, etc”
- Drop the filler words like; “and, um, so, ok, etc.”
- Cross in the present tense
- Tempo, slow down and breath
- Control our emotional state
- Effectively using a flip chart
- Bringing the jury in on cross
- Creating space in the question
These skills will be demonstrated in the context of the defense medical examiner cross on the right way verses the wrong way to do a medical evaluation.
Dan will also demonstrate the cross of the defendant truck driver
Witness preparation & Direct examination
The goal of witness prep is to teach your witness how to be the best witness they can be. To do this they must learn how to access the images/pictures in their mind so that they can transport themselves and the jury back in time to relive the events. We MUST get the STORY before we can effectively tell it, otherwise, we are just guessing.
Dan will demonstrate how to transport your client so you can get the story. And then how to help your client tell his/her story so the jury can experience it.
Voir Dire
The goal of voir dire is to seat a jury who likes you and likes, or is at least open to your case. Likeability is a result of connection. To become a voir dire master, you must train yourself to consciously control your; eye contact, voice, breathing, emotional state, and hand/body movements. You must also ask the right questions. The right questions are scripted so that they can be practiced and delivered authentically. The first five minutes of voir dire can make or break your case. This presentation will demonstrate how you can get that connection every time when you master three scripts.
- Intro/beginning the process
- biases defined
- brutal honesty
If you can't attend Live, Watch On Demand