Podcast - Candor Saves Credibility in Courtrooms
Podcast - The "Referee" of the Judicial System
Podcast - The Jury Is the Audience
Podcast - There's More Than One Way to Win
Mock Jury Exercises: Enhancing Litigation Strategy in Consumer Financial Services Cases — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Podcast - Are Real Trials Just Like the Movies?
Work This Way: A Labor & Employment Law Podcast | Episode 8: The Benefits of a Mock Jury with Dr. Jo Ellen Livingston
Podcast - Bringing Mindfulness and Best Practices to Trial Law
Practice Makes Perfect: Mock Oral Arguments and Effective Oral Advocacy
Engaging a jury consulting firm can materially shape the trajectory and outcome of your case. The right team brings not only insight into juror decision-making, but also discipline around strategy, sequencing, and execution....more
The fastest way to destroy a witness' credibility is to let the jury think something is being hidden. Litigation attorney Dan Small draws on the mock trial case State v. Faulkner, used for his pro bono work in Uzbekistan, as...more
Order in the courtroom determines whether justice can move forward. In this episode of "The Trial Lawyer's Handbook," litigation attorney Dan Small examines the essential role judges play in the adversarial system through his...more
In the United States, a trial by jury is a familiar cornerstone of the justice process. In Uzbekistan, however, trials unfold in a different way. In this episode of "The Trial Lawyer's Handbook," litigation attorney Dan Small...more
In a Los Angeles Civil trial, jurors recently heard arguments over whether some of the largest and most powerful companies in the world engaged in a secret plot — in an echo of the tobacco litigation of the 1980’s — to hook...more
In trial work, courage often means pressing forward even when the outcome is uncertain. In this episode of "The Trial Lawyer's Handbook," litigation attorney Dan Small continues his discussion of the mock case State v....more
Corporate defendants often begin a trial cast as “Goliath,” facing jurors who may already be skeptical of large companies and their motives. The challenge is not simply to rebut plaintiff claims but to establish credibility,...more
As the world’s main social media companies are in a California courtroom for a bellwether trial to contest claims that they are facilitating online addictions, courtrooms themselves have flirted and tested online...more
The ABA’s 2026 False Claims Act Mock Trial Institute, held in New Orleans this year and sold out, once again offered a bevy of lessons, information, and insight. As always, the FCA Mock Trial Institute provided a valuable...more
Supporters of America’s traditional jury trials like the idea of a system of conflict resolution based on evidence, reasoning, and the public’s judgment. Those supporters, and I include myself in that group, believe that...more
It’s a familiar scenario: As the case moves toward the mediation stage, the two sides start staking out positions with an eye toward compromise. The plaintiffs make a big ask with the expectation of coming down. The defense...more
Imagine an attorney going over her notes before oral argument. She already has a solid set of reasons lined up and then decides to add one more argument that has been a little controversial within the team: some like it, but...more
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Matt Hansen, Jason Manning, and Michael Lacy, partners in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Consumer Financial Services practice group, to discuss the use of...more
Jury testing is a powerful tool in litigation, and attorneys would be well served to think about their cases as studies worthy of experimentation. Cases are not mysteries to be solved; they are a series of testable questions...more
Three years of law school can teach us many things. But what they do not do very well—as we typically discover soon after graduating—is prepare us for the actual practice of law. For those of us who always planned to be...more
Here’s a scenario we often see when watching deliberations in a mock trial: The subject of the defendant’s alternate damages number comes up, and jurors see it as a weakness...more
Here’s a welcome development: The state of Maryland has embarked on a pilot program to test out the effects of expanded voir dire. In many parts of the country (looking at you, Arizona) the ability of litigants to explore and...more
When I received my jury summons a month or so ago, I was elated. But the feeling was brief, as I quickly concluded my service would likely end as quickly as it would begin. I’m a Litigation Consultant, I work for a law firm,...more
With the 2024 election now in the rearview mirror, many Americans are still processing the results. The Presidential contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was widely seen as close by both pollster and pundit, and...more
In this episode of his "The Trial Lawyer's Handbook" podcast series, litigation attorney Dan Small analyzes the similarities and differences between real-life trials and ones portrayed in television and movies. Mr. Small...more
Mediation is often guided by predictions made by each side, as well as by the mediator: if this case went to trial and faced a jury, what would that jury likely do with it? Naturally, each of these three actors will have a...more
Sometimes in civil cases, the plaintiff’s liability claim is opportunistic, wishful, or factually weak. Other times, it is real. Someone didn’t do their job, a danger was missed, or — in that Olympic champion of passive-voice...more
It was a bright, spring morning in early May 1864. The kind of morning that would typically bring gentle breezes and the mating calls of songbirds drifting up from the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley. But on this...more
At last week’s Presidential debate, incumbent Joe Biden performed about as poorly as the worst predictions. In the panicked aftermath, calls have mounted for the 81-year-old President to gracefully exit his party’s nomination...more
As civil jury trials continue to become more scarce, the need to reasonably assess what result a jury would return in trial becomes even more important. Even when the trial does not happen — especially when it does not happen...more