Michael Waddington - Kick-Ass Closings: A Guide to Giving the Best Closing Argument of Your Life

In modern courtrooms, few criminal cases go to trial. With oppressive sentencing guidelines and trial penalties imposed on those who dare contest their charges, guilty pleas are the norm in Federal and State Courts. As a result, there are few opportunities to watch experienced lawyers do battle in contested jury trials. In modern times, how does one become a better trial lawyer, aside from trying jury trials? For me, I read dozens of trial advocacy books, attended many CLEs, scoured countless transcripts, and searched the internet looking for examples of how to deliver a kick-ass closing argument. What I found was disappointing. Almost all trial advocacy books contain theory, not substance, and they tend to minimize the importance of closing arguments.

In addition, most transcripts contain boring recitations of the facts, patronizing jury speeches, and weak attempts at explaining reasonable doubt. I was forced to learn by trying a lot of cases and learning from my successes, and even more importantly, from my failures. Thankfully, I practice law in a jurisdiction where there are no sentencing guidelines and few mandatory sentences. I am fortunate to take nearly every case to trial. Over two hundred contested jury trials have taught me many lessons. I firmly believe that a devastating closing argument, combined with a strong opening statement and skillful cross examinations, are key to creating reasonable doubt and winning at trial.

In this book, I set out to create a useful resource for new and experienced trial lawyers, so they can deliver devastating closing arguments with minimal prep time. This book does not focus on theory. It provides a simple and straightforward template that can be used in any criminal trial, along with hundreds of examples of winning arguments that can be crafted to fit the facts of your case. In preparing this trial guide, I read countless trial transcripts and sourced my own experiences. I extracted the best examples of common closing argument topics, such as Burden Shifting, Credibility, and Reasonable Doubt. Then, I broke down the arguments into topics for quick reference.

I also included powerful quotes and parables that can be used to drive a point home. Finally, I included charts and diagrams that can be used in closing arguments to visually demonstrate concepts such as Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Mistake of Fact, Self-defense, and others. Used properly, this book can save you time, and increase the power and effectiveness of your closing arguments. More importantly, it will help save lives, and protect the freedom of those whom we defend. When defending a criminal case, we must remember it is the prosecutors job to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. They must build a bridge over a river called "Reasonable Doubt." Their bridge must be solid and well-constructed.

It must span the river of Reasonable Doubt, otherwise, they have failed to meet their burden of proof. A criminal defense lawyers job is destruction. We dont build. We destroy. We sabotage. We wreak havoc.

We pinpoint and attack the weaknesses in the prosecutions case. Our goal is to destroy their case and leave it in ruins. The defenses closing argument should be the final bombing run on the prosecutions bridge. It is our last chance to convince the jury that the bridge is weak, unsafe, and cannot be crossed. If done properly, a closing argument should cause the jury to stop and hesitate, to have doubt, and to acquit.