The task for trial lawyers in delivering a powerful summation requires them to find a way to captivate the jurors’ attention and compel them to vote in your favor. Too often, lawyers merely recite the facts that the jurors have heard ad nauseam without any regard to meaningful advocacy. The summation is the time to make the argument come alive. It is the time to persuade. It is the time to give the jurors ammunition to support your position during their deliberations. Some of the most effective tools to achieve this goal are analogies, metaphors, memorable phrases and short stories. These devices can, if properly used, not only take the presentation from mundane to magnificent, but can work to help the jury reach the right verdict for the right reason.
The power of an analogy or metaphor is simple: It compares a highly contested, complex set of issues, such as a trial, to a readily understandable situation in which the virtues of the good and the failings of the evil are readily discernable. Moreover, if successfully delivered, all of these techniques allow the jurors to view your case in terms that are more familiar to them.
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