This may seems obvious but it is my most important instruction to clients before they give any statement, testimony or deposition. For any testimony given under oath, lying is a criminal offense, namely perjury. You can go to jail for perjury, you can also lose your job, professional license and face court sanctions. Besides, lying is just plain wrong. Remember, if you give hours of truthful testimony and then get caught in a single lie, you are a liar. Getting caught lying, even once, will undo hours of truthful and persuasive testimony.

Tip Two: Be Prepared

Bad testimony often means you lose valuable legal rights, such as money, your freedom or custody of your children. Do not give testimony unprepared.

If you are giving testimony about an accident, do what you can to remind yourself about the accident. If you can, visit the scene of the accident and look at it carefully. Replay the events of the accident. What happened just before, during and after the accident? Where was your car, where was the other car, what lane were you in, who was in your car, where was everyone sitting within the car, did you have your seatbelt on, did the passengers have their seat belts on, how far from the light were you when you saw the other car, how fast were you going?

If you fell, try to go back to the scene of the fall. Look at the area and replay the events of the fall in your mind. Think about where you fell, what foot slipped, which direction did your body go, what part of your body hit the ground first, what shoes were you wearing, what color was the liquid you fell on, did your foot slip forward or backwards, who was with you, what did people say after the fall?

A crash, a fall or a violent assault may occur in seconds, but you should expect to be asked hundreds of questions about the details of that brief moment. The more you can truthfully recall, the more persuasive you will sound.

If your testimony concerns some agreement, read the agreement carefully. Then read it again. Read letters and e-mails you wrote about the agreement. Read the letters and e-mails you received about the agreement. Review all other relevant paperwork, like purchase orders, receipts, bank statements and anything else that will remind you exactly what happened and when.

You should prepare for a statement, deposition, or trial testimony like it was a final exam. Be prepared for questions, review facts. It often helps to take out a calendar to remind yourself when critical events occurred. When was the accident, when did you have surgery, when did you stop therapy, when were you released to go back to work on light duty?

If you gave a prior statement or deposition try to get a copy and read it carefully. You can bet the other attorney or insurance adjuster will read your prior statements and if your answer changed, they will use that against you. If you gave answers in a lawsuit, such as interrogatory answers or answers to admissions, you need to review those carefully before you give your statement. Interrogatory answers and answers to admissions are the same as testimony under oath. If you say one things in your answers and another in your trial testimony, you will be branded a liar, or inconsistent.

Be prepared for questions about what happened and when things happened. You need to prepare for your testimony so you can answer questions about when critical events occurred. If you can recall exact dates, great. If you cannot remember exact dates, you need to know what happened first, second and so on. The easiest way to do this is to sit down with a calendar and review the facts as you look at your calendar. If you need to, write out a summary of when things happened. These notes are to help you organize your thoughts, you can throw them away as soon as you finish writing them. You may have to look at receipts, plane tickets, hospital discharge papers or other documents to remind you of the dates of critical events.

Tip Three: Ask for a Copy of the Statement

At the very beginning of a statement, insist that you be given a copy of the statement when it is done. Remember, when you give a statement under oath it will be captured in some way, such as a tape recording or by or a Court stenographer. Months or years later, you may end up in Court being asked the same questions. By then, you likely forgot what you said earlier. You can be sure the person asking you the questions knows what you said earlier. If your answers differ from your prior answers, even slightly, your credibility will be attacked.