 Opening Statements
Gerry Spence on the Opening Statement: "Telling Our Story--The Opening Statement," in Gerry Spence, Win Your Case 129-148 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005)
 "I know no rule of law that says the opening statement must be brief, although it should fairly state what the intended proof will be. . . . If the story is complicated, there is no better place to explain it and to make it understandable than in the opening statement." [Spence, Win Your Case, at 136]["When a long, detailed opening is given, the risk is that we'll make representations that we'll fail to prove during the trial, so that during final argument our opponent will take our overstatements and shove them into dark and painful places. Still, in balance, I favor the longer, detailed story. The jury is still relatively fresh. They are eager to hear our side of the case, and we must remember that the opening is our first opportunity to establish the justice of our case in the minds of the jury." Id. at 137]
Opening Statement as Storytelling
[Stephen C. Rench]
Tell Your Story Through Opening Statement
Opening Statements: The Art of Storytelling
[Gerald Reading Powell, Professor of Evidence, Baylor Law School]
Attorneys' Uses of Storytelling During Opening Statements
[Lauren Thorne, Clemson University]
What Your Opening Statement Should and Should Do
[Professor Steven H. Goldberg, Pace Law School]
Draw Them a Picture
[Dr. Noelle Nelson]
Ten Points in Making an Effective Opening Statement
[Douglass F. Noland]
Opening Statements: Beginning, Middle, End
[Douglass F. Noland]
Effective Opening Statements
[Karen Turner McWilliams & Elisha A. King]
Opening Statement
[Marilyn Bednarski, The Wisconsin Defender]
Opening Statements
[Edgar Eliott, IV]
On Opening Statesments
[Mazzone & Markwell,
Everett, Washington]
Opening Statements: You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression
[Jeff Kearney]
Winning Techniques from the Beginning: Opening Statement
[John Elliott Leighton]
Using Themes at Trials
[Carol L. Gillam]
Opening Statement in Criminal Cases
[Ray Moses, Center for Criminal Justice Advocacy]
Opening Statements
[Winning Trial Advocacy Techniques blog]
Opening Statements
Counter Jury Bias in the Opening Statement
[Barry W. Walker, Trial]
Bibliography: R.H. Snedaker, Storytelling in Opening Statements , 10 Amer. J. of Trial Advoc. 15 (1987); Shelley C. Spiecker & Debra L. Worthington, The Influence of Opening Statement/Closing Argument Organizational Strategy on Juror Verdict and Damage Awards, 27 Law & Hum. Beh. 437 (2003)
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