[Sidenote:  Getting the Decision Pronounced]

Sometimes a prospect will be convinced, but will not express what is in his thoughts.  Therefore it is not enough to bring about a favorable conclusion of mind.  Until this has been pronounced or signified, it may easily be changed.  Hence the effective process of decision includes both the mental action of judgment and its perceptible indication.  Often a prospect who is thinking “Yes” will not say it until he is prompted by the salesman.

[Sidenote:  A Lawyer Sums Up the Case]

When a lawyer is trying a case, he endeavors to bring out the evidence in favor of his client and to make the jury see every point clearly.  He shows also the fallacies and falsities of opposing testimony.  But after all the evidence has been given, the case is not turned over immediately to the jury for decision.  If that were done the lawyer would miss his best chance to influence the jurors to make up their minds in his favor.  They are not so familiar as he with the facts and their significance.  They would be apt to attach more importance to some details of testimony, and less to others, than the circumstances warrant.  So, to assist the jurors in arriving at their verdict on the evidence, the lawyer sums up the case.  He lays before their minds his views, and tries with all his power and art to convince them that his word pictures are true reproductions of the facts in their relation and proportion to all the circumstances surrounding the issue.

[Sidenote:  Preponderance Of Evidence]

The object of the lawyer when he addresses the jury is to make the convincing impression that the testimony in favor of his client far outweighs the evidence on the other side.  He adjures the twelve men before him to “weigh the evidence carefully.”  He declares the judge will instruct them that in a lawsuit the verdict should be given to the party who has a “preponderance” or greater weight of proof on his side. At this closing stage of the case the lawyer acts as a weighmaster. He wants to make the jurors feel that he has handled the scales fairly, that he has taken into consideration the evidence against him as well as the facts in his favor; and that the preponderance of weight is as he has shown it—­so that they will accept his view and gave him the verdict.  If he feels a sincere conviction that he is right in asking for a decision on his side, he makes his closing address with the ring of confidence.  He looks the jurors in the eye and asks for the verdict in his favor as a matter of right.  He does not beg, but claims what the weight of the evidence entitles him to receive.

[Sidenote:  Treat Your Prospects As Jurors]