Closing argument is, in many respects, one of the easier tasks in trying a case. After all, by the time you get down to the nitty-gritty of preparing the argument, you will have already done most of the hard work. You will have chosen the central themes — the reasons the jury must decide the case in favor of your client — upon which your case will be based, and organized your witness examinations around them. You will have refined your arguments regarding how the evidence cuts. And you may, depending on the case and your individual practice, have even started the trial with a draft outline of your closing, which you will have modified and expanded as the trial proceeds. Either way, you will have identified throughout the trial the actual testimony and documentary evidence you will rely upon in closing argument.
All that is left to be done is to weave it all together, to shine a light on the strengths of your case and to address effectively its key weaknesses. The goal is to argue, not just to summarize, the evidence. There is, of course, no set formula for a closing. That being said, effective closings are usually built on a core group of points. Here is a partial list. Others will be explored in our next column.
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