Ms. Richards, the defence lawyer, looked at Jean. "Yesterday in your evidence, you said that you were having trouble using a computer mouse," she said. "Do you expect the jury to accept that a broken bone in your hand prevents you from moving a mouse around on your desk?"

Jean hesitated a second and cleared her throat. "Yes," she replied, "as a planner I had to use the mouse in applications that included mapping and computer assisted drawings. I was taught that holding my mouse in the correct manner is crucial to those applications. Also my mouse has a function button on the side that is operated by the thumb. So holding the mouse causes me to put pressure on my thumb and on the scaphoid bone next to it. That causes pain."

Ms. Richards pressed on. "You can still use a mouse though can't you?" she asked. "Yes, I can," Jean replied. "But I can't turn projects around the way I used to. Before my kids came along I was a planner myself. And as the Planning Clerk a lot of complex projects were sent to me. But they are time sensitive. If I can't get them back on schedule they are sent on to someone who can meet the deadline. And lately I have noticed a lot less of these projects come to me at all. It's kind of like the word is out on me now." Jean stopped. She saw several of the jurors smiling at her.

Later over coffee, Jean described the day to Leslie. "She even asked me if I could not use a left handed mouse." She grinned at Leslie. "One of the jurors laughed out loud on that one." Leslie smiled back. "All the same," she said, "I am glad we work in different departments. I would hate to be a witness myself."

"That's how I felt too," replied Jean. "But I was ready for it. Joe always said to me that I knew my own life better than anyone else. He said I should welcome every question in cross examination because it would give me a better chance to explain the problems I was having. He said that if I stayed calm and just told the truth I would be fine. And he was right. I was able to answer every question she put to me."

Jean continued. "I realized after all the preparation that she was not really going to attack me unless I said something that was an exaggeration or that contradicted some other piece of evidence. She was testing my evidence, not me. Once I realized that, cross examination became a lot less frightening."

At Horne Marr Zak we know that people are often nervous at trial. A good result demands witnesses who are well prepared. They must understand their role and the trial process generally. We take the time to make our clients and their witnesses ready. Because we care about the process and we care about your future.