Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1901 — Trick of Lawyer's Trade. [ARTICLE]

Trick of Lawyer's Trade.

The average layman who may attend any of the more conspicuous trials in the civil or criminal courts Is usually amused at first by the wrangles and tilts of opposing counsel, but in the end he becomes bored and wonders what is the point of all this furious recrimination. Some light was shed on this matter the other day by a prominent criminal lawyer, who said: “I never engage in any of these controversies without an object. When I have a witness who is going along swimmingly and keeping his head, I never mix it up with my opponent, but when my witness begins to get rattled under cross-examination, for instance, I am pretty apt to Interject a remark that will bring a retort from my learned friend on the other side. One word leads to another and in a jiffy we are at it hammer and tongs until the court stofts us. Meanwhile my 1 object is accomplished, she witness’ mind is diverted, he gets a chance to recover himself, and, if I happen to have had the better of the argument, he feels reassured and his confidence is restored.”—Chicago Journal.