(a) Schedule of Commencement of Trial. During a trial session, cases shall be called for trial in the order in which they were scheduled for trial by the assigned judge.
(b) Openings and Closings. The opening addresses and closing arguments of counsel engaged in trial shall be in accordance with the following principles:
(1) Unless the trial judge shall otherwise direct, only one attorney may present an opening address or a closing argument for any party;(2) Opening remarks shall consist only of a succinct statement, without argument of the positions and contentions of the party represented by the speaker and a brief recital of the evidence intended to be introduced in support of the same;(3) Counsel for the party having the affirmative of the issue on the pleadings shall open the case and shall be followed by opposing counsel, and by third parties, in order in which each appears in the caption of the action;(4) Counsel for the defendant or any third party defendant may elect to make the opening address prior to the taking of any testimony or immediately prior to the presentation of evidence by the defense, unless the trial judge in a particular case required such opening addresses by the defense counsel to be made at a particular time;(5) At the conclusion of the evidence, closing arguments shall be presented by counsel in the reverse order in which counsel was entitled to open under subparagraph (3), so that counsel for the party having the affirmative of the issue shall close last;(6) In actions involving more than one plaintiff, defendant, or third party defendant, not covered under subparagraph (3), if the attorneys are unable to agree, the trial judge shall determine the order of presentation of the opening addresses and closing arguments.(c) Conduct of Trial. The party calling a witness shall, upon motion of another party or when required to do so by the court, state briefly the matter proposed to be established by the testimony of that witness and the legal purpose for presenting such evidence. The entire examination of a witness shall be conducted by only one attorney for each party unless otherwise permitted by the trial judge.
Amended effective November 2014.