Most people have no reason, thankfully, to set a trap or ambuscade in the course of their daily affairs. A trial lawyer, in contrast, lays traps all the time as part of his or her trial strategy. Such stratagems are often necessary to extract the truth from a disingenuous or recalcitrant witness, or to counter ruses employed by a wily opposing counsel.

In a perfect world, the testimonial prevaricator you face will not see your well planned ambuscade until it is too late, and the truth will be revealed. Alas, more often than not an adversarial witness, having been duly prepared, will answer your inquiries with endless evasions and half-truths and the matter will devolve into war of attrition. It is a miserable business. However, it does offer a collateral benefit if you are a fiction writer: You will never suffer writer’s block when it comes to conjuring into existence crafty and unscrupulous characters, or schemes equal to their wiles.