ABA Family Legal Guide

How the Legal System Works

The Civil Trial: Step by Step

Verdicts

What happens after each side has presented all its evidence?

Each side will be given the opportunity to address the jury directly and to summarize what he or she believes was proven during the trial. At the conclusion of these arguments, called closing statements or closing arguments, the judge will consider each side's suggestions on how to instruct the jury on the law that governs the case. In some state and federal courts, judges give the jury instructions on the law prior to the closing statements to assist them in understanding the closing statements better. The judge's instructions will specify the issues the jury must decide and the law it must apply to the facts that were developed in the case. Then the jury will retire to the jury room to come to a decision. In the typical case the jury will be asked to render a general verdict and conclude which side won on an all-or-nothing basis. Alternatively, the judge may ask for a special verdict, which requires the jury to enter separate written findings on each of several issues.