Sometimes greater confidence is the last thing a witness needs. When your fact or expert witness is arrogant, unprepared, or careless about their upcoming testimony, they might need a reality check through a preparation...more
If you’re like me, you have been clicking into a ton of web-conferences lately. That’s true of the whole business world, but I think the legal workplace is a natural fit for web conferencing. After all, it is a field that is...more
These days, instead of spending our days in offices, conference rooms, and courthouses, we are likely spending those days in front of laptop web-cameras, negotiating our business lives in this new medium. I have noticed that...more
“Love” may mean, “Never having to say your sorry,” but litigation does not mean that. In some defense cases, sure, what’s needed is an all-out answer that denies everything the plaintiff is saying. But in other cases, there...more
What makes an expert witness persuasive to a jury? Is it their background and training? The work that they did on the case? Their communication skills in teaching the jury? The research suggests that expert influence depends...more
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this,” Dr. Carl Sagan once wrote, “If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The...more
Watching a mock jury deliberate about damages can give you the idea that when it comes to numbers, jurors can be a little random. For example, a jury might see a big difference between $500,000 and $1 million in one moment,...more
Trial lawyers are used to persuading with their arguments and with their evidence. But what about the voice? It stands to reason that tone matters, but does it matter enough to influence persuasion? Some attorneys, even while...more
The chance to interview a juror is a precious opportunity. Whether it is a mock juror interviewed in the course of a focus group or mock trial, or an actual juror interviewed after they are dismissed at the end of trial, an...more
The lawyer preparing their case likely goes through a long list of, “What will they think about…” questions, relating to the facts, the evidence, the arguments, and the law. Eventually, that attorney might get to the...more
Both theory and experience say that there are two kinds of thinking. One is focused thinking, zeroing in on a topic, analytically and systematically. The other is diffuse thinking, abstract and constrained only by association...more
The habit of sort of just filling in your speech with expressions of uncertainty, when you’re not really that uncertain, is probably a bad habit. I mean, I am fairly sure that these hedges cut down on your perceived...more
1/9/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Closing Arguments ,
Credibility ,
Cross Examination ,
Defense Strategies ,
Eyewitness Testimony ,
Jury Trial ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Opening Statements ,
Trial Practice Guidance ,
Trial Preparation ,
Young Lawyers
When you stand in front of a jury, laying out your opening story or closing your arguments, who are you talking to? “To the jury, of course.” Yes, but which jurors in particular? The conventional wisdom is that you should be...more
When we engage in arguments, perhaps on social media or even around the table at Christmas dinner, it is easy to notice that there is something different about those at the extremes. Extremists are so filled with confidence...more
Yesterday was an historic day in the U.S. House of Representatives. For more than eight hours, Democratic and Republican members of the body gave short alternating speeches for and against the motion, before impeaching Donald...more
You’ve probably seen the claim, but is it really true that our attention spans are becoming shorter than that of a goldfish? Last year, the presentation software company called Prezi released its 2018 State of Attention...more
I remember once sitting in court early into the defense opening statement, and the attorney was busy thanking the jurors, again. Even though they had already heard the spiel from the other side, and from this attorney’s...more
There’s an old expression: “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Assuming that your goal is not to actually catch flies, but instead, to get what you want in some kind of negotiation, the expression means...more
The law allows counsel on the other side to deliver their opening statement first, so they get the early opportunity to tell you their story. But, there are two sides to every story. And, despite all you have heard, I...more
You probably learned it in one of your earliest writing classes: Active voice means the grammatical subject is doing the acting, and passive voice means the subject is acted upon. It is the difference between “The dog bit the...more
There is a persistent belief among many mock jurors that I have seen in certain kinds of cases. The belief is that liability attaches automatically to possession, and jurors usually express it through the lens of home...more
10/11/2019
/ Best Practices ,
Defense Strategies ,
Juror ,
Jury Instructions ,
Jury Trial ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mock Trials ,
Negligence ,
Premises Liability ,
Trial Practice Guidance ,
Trial Preparation
When you are working on boiling down your message, there will often be that indefinable “something” that makes you recognize when you have the right language. A good trial theme, for example, doesn’t just summarize the...more
Juror 1: “The next category is ‘pain and suffering.’ How are we supposed to get to get that number?”
Juror 2: “It is just whatever we want…there’s no guidance for it.“
Juror 1: “How are we supposed to do that? Put a...more
The government often plays a background role in civil litigation. An action, decision, or product from one party might meet the government’s regulations, for example. The question that raises is “Are the regulators trusted?”...more
On one end of the spectrum, there are specific beliefs jurors might hold on an issue. More generally, then there are attitudes that cover and predict many of those different beliefs. Even more generally, there is the...more