We often teach students to avoid filler words and useless phrases. From the Blago Blog, here's a real-world example of a trial judge taking Blagojevich's attorney to task for doing just that:
"Zagel has called a 15-minute break. Before he did, he called Adam over for a conference. The judge urged Adam to avoid starting his questions with "you said" -- a wording that "generally speaking, doesn't get you anywhere."
It's a phrasing that Adam has taken a particular liking to, it seems.
"I say this because it probably could reduce the length of the cross-examination by 10 percent," Zagel told the attorney."
Doesn't get you anywhere. Wastes time. Two good reasons to avoid filler words on cross-examination.
In addition to that, the blog has quite a bit of fascinating information about the trial and specifically, the defense cross-examination of a government witness.
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