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Will poking fun at your adversary during the course of trial gain you any points? You want
to learn the answer? Come join me. Hi, I’m Gerry Oginski I’m a New York medical malpractice
and personal injury trail attorney practicing law here in the state of New York. The answer
is no it will not gain you any points; in fact it will hurt you and your case. Why do
I say that? Because the jury will not appreciate you making comments, derogatory comments against
your opponent. They may take it out on you. Well guess what? They may also take it out
on your client because of the way you act. Now in court we are required to give the court
respect as well as our adversary even though we may not like him or her because the jury
expects you as an attorney to act professionally. Now, why do I tell you this? I tell you this
because I’ve witnessed a particular case a number of years ago. I was in Brooklyn Supreme
court here in New York and I was watching three very experienced attorneys on trial.
It was a brain damaged baby case and two of the attorneys, the plaintiff’s attorney,
the one bringing the lawsuit and one of the defense lawyers representing one of the doctors
hated each other. What was amazing to me is that I had the opportunity to sit in a number
of times during that trial and observe what was going on. And what I saw was astonishing
and what I heard was even worse. The two attorneys, the plaintiff’s attorney and the defense
lawyer were bickering amongst each other and they were doing it in front of the jury. The
jury was sitting only three feet away and they were doing it in such a way as they believed
that neither the jury nor the judge could hear what they were saying. Well I have to
tell you, I was sitting in the gallery only a few feet away, I heard every single comment
they were making and the comments were not nice in fact they were very nasty. I got the
clear impression that the jury also heard what was going on and they also appeared not
to like what was happening. It got to the point that the judge had to castigate, had
to yell at the two attorneys, not once but a number of times at least while I was there
telling them to stop bickering and stop fighting amongst themselves and I believe that type
of bickering, that type of infighting clearly hurt the attorney who was bringing the lawsuit.
So why do I tell you this? I tell you this to give you an idea of an insight and understanding
about what happens during the course of trial. Chances are you’re watching this video you
have questions about your particular matter. Well if your claim involves medical care and
treatment that happened here in the state of New York or wrongful death or an accident
in New York what I encourage you to do is to pick up the phone and call me. I answer
legal questions just like yours every day. You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or by email
at lawmed10@yahoo.com. I’m Gerry Oginski here in New York, thanks for watching.