Your Fresno disability lawyer will interview your potential witnesses ahead of time of the hearing. During this preliminary interview, your lawyer will spend most of the time determining who can serve as the best witnesses for your case and instructing them how their testimony will be the most effective.
This does not mean your Fresno disability lawyer will rehearse the witnesses. Almost any time a witness is rehearsed, their testimony will appear to be rehearsed and as a consequence, their testimony will receive less weight. Testimony that has been rehearsed often appears stilted and trite, adds details that are unnecessary, and overlooks important information that could be elicited by means of spontaneous testimony.
What Constitutes Good Testimony
Testimony that emphasizes observations and minimizes conclusions is the best type of testimony that can be obtained from lay witnesses.
For instance, if a witness testifies that you suffer from grand mal epilepsy, emphysema, or arachnoiditis, it is obvious he or she is simply restating what someone else said. It adds little to your case especially if testimony from better sources reveals the witness to be wrong.
In like manner, testimony from a lay witness that states you are “disabled,” permanently disabled”, or “totally disabled,” is not beneficial. The Social Security Act does not premise disability on whether it is total or permanent. Using those terms may cloud or discredit your testimony particularly if the whole sum of evidence shows you are disabled but it is not total or permanent in kind.
If you have questions you would like to ask a competent and knowledgeable Fresno disability lawyer about your Social Security disability case, please contact us.
