Prepare your witnesses for the hearing with Lexiel: an exportable preparation guide and a simulator with four modes (judge, opposing counsel, prosecutor, and full rehearsal) that ends with an assessment.
Oral trial preparation is, for many lawyers, one of the most critical and least systematized phases of their work. While the written phase of proceedings allows for revisions, consultations, and measured reflection, oral hearings demand immediate responses, argumentative improvisation, and preparation covering multiple scenarios. Yet many lawyers prepare their oral hearings alone, mentally reviewing arguments without an interlocutor to challenge them.
The oral phase of judicial proceedings presents unique challenges that radically distinguish it from the written phase:
Immediacy: You can't request a recess to consult case law when the judge asks an unexpected question. Your response must be immediate, competent, and well-founded.
Unpredictability: The opposing party may introduce arguments, evidence, or lines of questioning you didn't anticipate. Witnesses may declare unexpected things. The judge may ask questions revealing their inclination in the case.
Non-verbal communication: Tone, confidence, the ability to stay calm under pressure; all these factors influence how the court perceives your arguments, beyond their legal content.
Cascade effect: An error in witness examination, a poorly formulated response to an objection, or a weak argument left unchallenged can condition the rest of the hearing.
Lexiel's testimony preparation tool works inside the case file and focuses on whoever is going to testify at the hearing. For each witness you set their role:
From there, there are two pieces: the preparation guide and the simulator.
Lexiel generates a guide from the case facts and brief, any instructions you give it, and the relevant legal sources in its corpus. The guide has six sections:
When you prepare the cross-examination of an opposing witness or expert, Lexiel loads the other side's documents in the case file (answer, claim, expert report) and adds a seventh section with questions grounded in what that document says.
The guide is designed not to instruct anyone to lie: its aim is to present the truth as favorably as possible.
In the simulator, the AI asks and the witness answers (ideally rehearsing with them present, or with the lawyer answering in their place). There are four modes:
Judge: neutral but incisive. Demands precision, presses on evasive answers, and points out contradictions.
Opposing counsel: looks for inconsistencies with closed questions, confronts with documents, and pushes where it sees nerves.
Prosecutor: formal and institutional, with systematic, orderly questions.
Full rehearsal: the AI alternates the roles of judge, opposing counsel, and prosecutor in the same session, stating who is speaking in each turn. The prosecutor always takes part in criminal cases and, in civil cases, only where there is a public interest or minors.
If you have already generated the guide, the simulator uses the weak points it identified to direct its questions, making them progressively harder.
When you end the session, Lexiel analyzes the transcript and generates a report with:
Each simulation's transcript can also be exported in DOCX and PDF.
Familiarity: having heard the hardest questions of the case beforehand helps the witness arrive in court calmer.
Weakness detection: it's easier to see weak points when someone (even an AI) points them out directly. Confirmation bias affects everyone.
Consistency: practicing several times helps catch contradictions between answers before the other side does.
Illustrative examples of how it can be used:
Criminal defense: simulate the prosecutor's examination of the defendant to identify the most compromising questions and prepare answers that don't harm the defense strategy.
Monetary claim: prepare the client for a judge skeptical of the amount claimed.
Dismissal: rehearse with the worker's witnesses the company lawyer's cross-examination.
Expert: prepare the ratification of the report and the questions from the parties and the court.
Guides and simulations are stored inside the case file, with the same access control as the rest of the case. Before sending text to the AI model, Lexiel anonymizes the personal data of the case and the witness, and the data is not used to train models.
Testimony preparation is available to lawyer accounts, within your plan's limits. Free 14-day trial.
Use code LEX-BLOG for double the standard trial period. Cancel anytime, no commitment.
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