Objection Basics: Part V

In Objection Basics: Part IV, we discussed rules and guidelines for the main body of the objection arguments. Now we'll consider the sixth step in this process, concluding the objection argument.

6. Conclude the objection argument
Most of the time you’re not going to have any control over the conclusion of the argument. The judge is going to decide they’re convinced by one of you and rule, and that’s the end of it. Sometimes the judges will just let you argue and argue for an extraordinarily long time, however. Most objection arguments have a natural conclusion. You and opposing counsel will have narrowed in on a central question. You’ll both have made your cases for your version of the answer to the question, and all that remains is for the judge to decide on the answer. What happens if the judge keeps letting you argue beyond the point where you have arguments remaining? First of all, do not tell the judge, however politely, that you’re done arguing or that they need to rule. Your responsibility is to be a zealous advocate for your client; that means that whenever you have a chance to, you’re advocating on their behalf. You don’t get to stop as long as the judge is still asking to hear you. Note that I say “asking” to hear you. Some judges will be clearly conveying that they wish to rule (they might show reluctance when asked to allow someone to respond, they won’t immediately look to the next attorney for a response, etc. Body language and tone are your hints here), yet still allowing responses. If you have no further substantive points you want to make, simply not asking to respond is your best option.  But if they’re open to hearing further argument, you’re going to need to ask to respond and respond again- you want the last word. Consider that you may be missing an argument the judge expects but hasn’t heard yet. If you can’t think of anything along those lines, then you have two options: 1) listen carefully to opposing counsel. Have they changed their argument in a way you should respond to? Do that if they have. 2) Reiterate your primary or strongest point. Don’t act as though it’s new. Say something like, “Your Honor, I’d simply reiterate that... [your main/strongest point]” or “Your Honor, once again the key point here is... [your main/strongest point].” Remember to control your tone. This might be getting frustrating or nerve-wracking, but the right way to frame it is, as always, with confidence: you’ve made your point intelligently and now you’re just reminding everyone of how right you are. Eventually the judge will begin indicating that they wish to rule, and the discussion will draw to a close in that fashion. If the judge says the objection was sustained, the objection succeeded. If they say it was overruled, it did not succeed.
There’s one final step that you’ll need to perform if three things are true: 1) you were the person obecting; 2) you won and the objection was sustained; and 3) the objection was to something that the witness said (as opposed to to a question). You need to say “Motion to strike” to the judge. “Motion” essentially means you’re requesting that the court do something. “Strike” specifies that you’re asking the court to remove the objectionable content from the record (which is explained back in Part I). Removing that content from the record was the entire point of your objection, so remembering the motion to strike is extremely important. If you don’t ensure that the content gets removed, you needn’t have bothered objecting. Do pay attention to what the judge says as they’re ruling, however; some judges will remove the content from the record without being asked, and asking them again will just make you look weird. They won’t say “motion to strike”; they’ll say something more like “The objection is sustained and the objectionable content will be stricken from the record.”

I'm going to post a one-page hitting-the-highlights version of all of the Objection Basics posts on Thursday. After that, there will be a few posts on what I would consider advanced objection material, and then we'll finally get to some examples.