Lessons from the Fani Willis Disqualification Hearing in Fulton County, Georgia
Over the past few weeks, Judge Scott McAfee has presided over a hearing in which former President Donald Trump’s lawyers are seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and attorney Nathan Wade from prosecuting Trump and his co-defendants for alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act. The hearing provided several lessons for litigators concerning persuasive advocacy.
1. During direct examination, get to the point quickly and do not focus on irrelevant details.
At times, the direct examinations by some of former President Trump’s lawyers focused on irrelevant details, making the examinations unnecessarily long and reducing their persuasive impact.
In fact, Judge McAfee expressed frustration—and understandably so —with such questioning, particularly on direct examination. For example, during her direct examination of Willis, Ashleigh Merchant, who is an excellent lawyer, often focused on tangential details that detracted attention from the dispositive issues, such as the monthly rent amount that Willis paid to her friend Robin Bryant-Yeartie, whether Willis’s father remained at the house where Willis, for safety reasons, had moved from, and whether Willis’s children had returned to (and presumably resided) at the house after she had left.
None of these questions had anything to do with the dispositive issues in the case, namely: (1) when the relationship between Willis and Wade began; and (2) whether Willis benefitted financially from hiring Wade as a special prosecutor. This is why Judge McAfee, obviously frustrated, stated, “Ms. Merchant, can we get to the relationship and financial benefit?”
The lesson is simple. Get to the point quickly. Focus on the issues and realize that less is more. Otherwise, you risk losing the judge’s (or jury’s) attention and diminishing the persuasive value of your direct examination.
2. Ask concise, direct, and closed-ended questions and organize them to maximize persuasive impact.
On direct and cross-examination, attorneys should ask concise, direct, and, in appropriate instances, closed-ended questions that are straightforward and that produce the testimony you seek to elicit. During the hearing, some of Ashleigh Merchant’s and the other attorneys’ questions were compound, open-ended, and confusing. This allowed Willis both to evade answering certain questions and, alternatively, to offer extensive explanations that had little, if anything, to do with the information that the attorneys sought.
Additionally, a fair amount of the questions that Trump’s lawyers asked were objectionable, causing needless delay and distracting from the relevant issues. And Trump’s lawyers’ responses to several objections, particularly concerning privilege, were unpersuasive. Indeed, the failure to draft a direct examination that is concise, to the point, and non-objectionable undermines the persuasive value of that examination and can, in some instances, negatively impact a lawyer’s credibility. When that happens, the likelihood of success diminishes substantially.
3. Be prepared, and understand the effort needed to be truly prepared.
Preparation is everything, and in the legal profession, it often takes countless hours to be fully prepared for a hearing or trial. This includes, but is not limited to, researching effectively, knowing the facts and holdings of all relevant case law, having a thorough grasp of the facts, anticipating the adversary’s objections and counterarguments, preparing witnesses, and developing a cohesive and compelling theory of the case. When an attorney is inadequately prepared, it shows and affects the attorney’s credibility and the persuasive value of the attorney’s arguments.
At points during the hearing, some of the attorneys on both sides seemed unprepared. For example, they struggled to locate information in their files, often shuffling through papers or otherwise taking time to find the information needed to substantiate their points, and inquired into privileged information on direct examination. At other times, one or more attorneys appeared to not fully understand the holding of a particular case or, alternatively, slightly mischaracterize a prior court’s holding, which was evident to a degree during the state’s closing argument.
As stated above, these mistakes can have a substantial, if not decisive, impact on a lawyer’s credibility and a client’s likelihood of succeeding on the merits.
4. Slow down and articulate clearly.
During the hearing, particularly on direct and cross-examination, a few of the attorneys spoke too fast during direct and cross-examination and struggled to respond effectively to objections (and Judge McAfee’s questions), which affected the quality of their presentation. When attorneys speak too fast, they lose the opportunity to emphasize favorable points and risk confusing a judge or jury. As such, attorneys should strive to speak in a conversational tone, utilize strategic pauses, transition effectively between different topics (i.e., signposting), and where appropriate, use a witness’s answer to frame the next question (i.e., looping). When attorneys speak too quickly, they dilute the impact that favorable testimony will have on a judge or jury.
This goes to the broader point that much of persuasive advocacy is reflected in the intangible and non-verbal qualities that an attorney brings into the courtroom. It is not sufficient, for example, to draft an outstanding oral argument if that argument is not delivered persuasively. In short, it is not just what you say; it is how you say it.
A textbook example of how to conduct a powerful cross-examination (or direct examination of a hostile witness) was attorney Steve Sadow’s examination of Terrance Bradley, Wade’s former law partner who had represented Wade in a divorce proceeding. Sadow got to the point quickly, asked clear and impossible-to-evade questions, and spoke with confidence and conviction. In so doing, Sadow severely, if not irreparably, damaged Bradley’s credibility.
5. Maintain your credibility.
At all times, attorneys and witnesses must maintain their credibility. If a judge or jury doubts your credibility, they will disregard your substantive arguments and likely rule in the opponent’s favor.
During her examination by Merchant, Willis sometimes reacted with anger, emotion, and condescension in response to specific questions and sometimes offered superfluous explanations that had no relationship whatsoever to the question being asked. Such a demeanor risks alienating the judge (or jury) and losing whatever sympathy that you could have engendered through your testimony.
Most importantly, attorneys and witnesses must always be honest with the court. During the hearing, Trump’s attorneys called Bradley to the stand. Several weeks before the hearing, Bradley, for reasons that only he can know, had been texting Merchant about when the relationship between Willis and Wade began (Willis and Wade claimed that it began in 2022, after Willis hired Wade as a special prosecutor). In these text messages, Bradley responded “Absolutely” when Merchant asked him if the relationship began before 2022 and even volunteered specific details indicating that the relationship began in 2019 after Willis and Wade met at a continuing legal education seminar. When Bradley was called to the stand, however, he conveniently forgot—or did not recall—much of the information that he had conveyed to Merchant. When pressed, Bradley claimed that he was merely “speculating” about the beginning of the relationship (despite previously providing specific details to Merchant) and that he had no basis whatsoever to support this “speculation.” It should go without saying that Bradley had absolutely no credibility and, as such, severely undermined Willis’s and Wade’s claims regarding when their relationship began.
Maintaining credibility requires, among other things, that you keep your composure in the courtroom, control your emotions, refrain from making meritless objections, and tell the truth.
6. Do not make too many objections and avoid meritless objections.
Objections are a vital part of any hearing or trial, as attorneys must ensure that questions on direct and cross-examination comport with the rules of evidence. But sometimes, attorneys can make too many objections and, in so doing, damage their credibility.
This was evident during Trump’s lawyers’ examinations of Terrance Bradley. After what seemed like every question, the attorneys for the state objected on various grounds, such as that the question was asked and answered, not relevant, and privileged. It was clear, however, that the questions Merchant and the other attorneys, such as Sadow, posed to Bradley were within the purview of Judge McAfee’s order allowing Trump’s attorneys to question Bradley about when Willis’s and Wade’s relationship began, despite prior claims of attorney-client privilege. Notwithstanding, the state’s attorneys continued to make questionable objections despite being repeatedly overruled, and Judge McAfee appeared quite frustrated.
The problem with this should be obvious: too many objections, particularly when they lack serious merit, undermine your credibility. It also suggests that you have something to hide, namely, that the damaging information the adversary seeks is, in fact, true. This is not to say, of course, that attorneys should not object frequently when the adversary consistently asks objectionable questions. It is to say that attorneys should not object when the basis for that objection is meritless and the likelihood of a judge sustaining it is minimal.
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The above discussion is not meant to unduly criticize the attorneys or the parties in this case. They are exceptionally talented lawyers and, at many points during the hearing, they advocated admirably and persuasively on behalf of their clients. Furthermore, Judge McAfee showed that he is an outstanding judge who has impeccable knowledge of the law and rules of evidence and who is balanced, reasonable, and fair. Judge McAfee is certainly a jurist who represents the best of the legal profession.
Regardless of whether Judge McAfee disqualifies Willis, these hearings demonstrate the importance of exercising good judgment, being honest with the court and the public and, when prosecuting a former president, adhering to the highest ethical standards.