Trial attorneys differ on the extent to which closing argument determines a trial’s outcome. Regardless, an attorney making a closing argument has no choice but to assume that the outcome of the trial hangs in the balance and to use every bit of rhetorical advantage allowed by the rules and the reported cases.
Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 269 is the best starting point to determine what lawyers may not do during closing argument in state court. Rule 269 requires the party bearing the burden of proof to “present his whole case as he relies on it” in the opening of his closing argument. The rule limits that party’s concluding closing argument to matters “only in reply to the counsel on the other side.”
