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Comprehending How Much Your Expert Witness Presentation Can Strengthen or Weaken the Actual Facts

The strength or weakness of both sides of the case depends not only on the facts in the matter, but on the expert’s ability to present analyses and opinions to the ‘triers of fact.’

The phrase ‘triers of fact’ refers to the people responsible for the final judgment of the case. This may be jurors, or it may be a judge alone in a trial that does not involve jurors. When a judge alone reviews all evidence in a trial and decides a verdict without any jury, it is called a ‘bench trial.’ The participants in the litigation may also have agreed on the use of an arbitrator or mediator who may have similar responsibilities to these more recognizable ‘triers of fact.’

Keep in mind that the deposition process may be presented to you as simply a discovery procedure. Attorneys have said to me in deposition that they are just “trying to discover the facts.” That statement is sometimes an attempt to cause you to drop your guard and to be more relaxed than you should be. Yes, they are trying to get the facts out, but that is not all they are trying to do. An unstated goal of the deposition day is to somehow get you to put statements on the record that may later be used to embarrass, discredit, or disqualify you.

A key goal of the opposing lawyer, through the intensity and thoroughness of his questioning, is to uncover any outright mistakes, notable weaknesses, or notable oversights that you may have made during the process of your investigations. In addition, the opposing attorney may ask you questions from different angles at different times during the deposition day. He is hoping that you will give answers that may be different enough that he can claim later at trial that they sound contradictory.

Many attorneys will use the deposition room as a battleground. If possible, they would like to destroy you as an expert witness then and there. A deposition is often the only opportunity you will have to testify in most of your litigation support jobs. The rules here are looser for the attorneys, and they can get away with more risky questioning of you than they would be allowed to do in a trial.

You must stay focused and stay alert in a deposition. Most of the time, your deposition testimony will be the only testimony you give in the case, and its strength and your preparedness can dramatically affect the results.

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Credit Card Debt Negotiation – Effective Practices

If you are trying to determine if credit card debt negotiation is a workable solution for your credit card woes, do a quick check. Does a large chunk of your monthly take-home pay get funneled towards credit card bills? For that matter, are you falling behind on your credit card repayments? Perhaps your monthly minimum due seems to be growing uncontrollably month-to-month caused by late interest charges and being over the credit limit among others. Have this been going on for more than a year now? Are you desperate to get out of this vicious cycle without regard for possible effects on your credit score? If you answered yes to all if not most of these questions then pursuing credit card debt negotiation may be a real option for you before things get really ugly finance-wise.

Credit card debt negotiation seeks to reduce the total amount payable by a debtor to just a percentage of what is actually owed to the credit card company. This also has the effect of lowering the monthly amount due to a more manageable size. At the same time, interest charges and other fees may be discontinued as part of the terms of the credit card debt negotiation. Some companies offering credit card debt negotiation services may claim they can successfully negotiate to trim down the debt to just 50% of the amount due. On a more realistic scale, 60% to 80% are more common numbers when it comes to favorable settlement.

Just remember that beyond credit card debt negotiation, the only other choice available for a debtor is filing for bankruptcy. Debtors don’t like that option and neither do the credit card companies since it is a much messy course of action than negotiating. There are several, rather notorious card companies who simply just refuse to go into a settlement but in general by employing effective credit card debt negotiation practices, things can turn to a win-win situation for both parties.

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Communicate Effectively For Negotiation Success

Negotiation is a basic process consisting of communicating back and forth to get what you want from others. Communicating is extremely important in negotiating. It requires you to express ideas clearly and listen intently. We will briefly look at both of these components to effective communication.

Communicate Clearly

The ability to communicate clearly, to express ideas so that the other party can understand, is an essential negotiating skill. Weak communication may sink the negotiating process, so improve your skills, so your negotiations do not falter.

Revealing your position at the earliest opportunity is not what I mean by being clear. It just means you should speak, write, or otherwise communicate so your intended audience understands the message you wish to convey. This sounds simple, but there are a lot of misunderstandings at the negotiating table. The key to clear communication is to think of what you want your listener to do, think, or feel as a result of the communication. Do not think of yourself and what you want to tell the listener. Think of the result you want your communication to achieve and how best to successfully obtain the desired result.

First be clear with yourself regarding what you want. Then present your ideas so the listener can understand. If your listener becomes lost, it is your responsibility to help them get back on track. Do not assume anything. Be sure your points are understood.

Listen

The second part of effective communicating is listening. This is one of the most underrated skills in negotiating. Successful negotiators spend more time listening than talking. Donald Trump pointed out in “How to Get Rich,” “If you walk into a negotiation and know nothing about the other party, let them talk, listen to their tone, observe their body language, and determine whether they really want to make a deal or just show you how smart they are.” Listening helps you prepare, and we all know how important preparation is.

Listening is fundamental to negotiations, and not only that, good listening skills will improve your business life as well as your personal life. How many marriage problems have you heard of that started with, “He never listens to me,”? Not listening results in the other party feeling unimportant, and in business this can lead to losing the deal.

Active listening involves all the senses, and is the key to effective listening. You must take in everything the other party is communicating. This means both verbally and non-verbally. If the other person is not communicating clearly, you must assist them in opening up and communicating their ideas so you understand. Restate and paraphrase what you have heard to ensure the message you received is what the other party intended to communicate.

You cannot listen and talk at the same time, or at least not effectively, so know when to be quite and listen. Many deals are lost when someone keeps talking after discussion was necessary or desirable. To be successful, you must be a good listener. Work on this skill and you will open a door to more successful relationships and broader dimensions while negotiating.

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