08/08/2026
One of the biggest mistakes a lawyer can make in a jury trial is overselling the case in opening statement.
Opening statement is not the time to promise the jury the moon.
When you tell jurors they’re going to hear “overwhelming evidence,” that a witness is going to be “devastating,” or that the evidence will leave “no doubt whatsoever,” you’re setting an expectation. And if the evidence doesn’t live up to that promise, the jury notices.
The problem isn’t just that you failed to impress them.
You may have actually made the other side’s case stronger by raising expectations they were able to attack.
A good trial lawyer understands the difference between telling the jury what you hope they will believe and telling them what the evidence will actually prove.
Don’t oversell.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
Give the jury a roadmap.
Tell them what the evidence will show and then let the evidence do the talking.
Because at the end of the trial, the question isn’t:
“Was that a great opening?”
It’s: “Did they deliver what they promised?”
In a jury trial, credibility starts before the first witness ever takes the stand.
Underpromise. Overdeliver.
