By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: The Reptile approach to courtroom persuasion aims to sell plaintiffs’ cases by invoking absolute duties for protection wrapped around a fear appeal that resonates with the jurors. Even with the Reptile’s ‘reboot’ version, the ‘Edge’ training appears to continue this emphasis. In a second part of an article in the CLM […]
As the Reptile Evolves, Update Your Understanding of ‘Duty’ Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: The “Reptile” approach to trying civil cases by targeting a fear response has transitioned from being a novelty to being a mainstay in a little more than a decade. While the approach has not always been taken seriously by defendants, it has been the North Star for many on the plaintiff’s
Be Ready for a Reptile-Reboot Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It has now been well over a decade since the “Reptile” emerged as a way of trying plaintiff’s cases. The approach — a mix of personalizing the case for jurors, reinforcing simple rules, and emphasizing safety as the top priority, all built on the foundation of a somewhat metaphorical appeal
Consider that the reptile might be rewriting the law Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The Reptile approach of trying plaintiffs’ cases by framing them in terms of personal safety is no longer a new idea. Plaintiffs’ attorneys are also less likely to treat that approach as a cure-all in every trial. But the Reptile’s themes and techniques are still there, having snaked their way
Confront the Reptile in Jury Selection Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “You would agree with me, wouldn’t you doctor, that a physician should never needlessly endanger his patient, right?” That is a recommended question, probably the main recommended question to plaintiff attorneys who are applying the Reptile approach to persuasion. At first, it sounds like the answer would be an easy “Yes,” or
The Reptile Question: Give a Good Answer Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Might a fear-based strategy have greater purchase in the present pandemic climate? People are certainly feeling scared and vulnerable these days. Even as states begin to relax the coronavirus stay-at-home restrictions, the death toll continues to climb and a solid majority of the American public is not at all eager
Prepare for the COVID Reptile Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Defendants in many areas of litigation are likely familiar at this point with the Reptile approach to trying plaintiffs’ cases. A central pillar of the strategy, and its namesake, is the idea that personally-relevant fear appeals can be wielded in order to awaken the primitive, or ‘reptile,’ regions of the
Consider This Version of the Reptile: It’s Not Fear, It’s Anger Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Defense attorneys at this point, should have at least some familiarity with the Reptile approach that the plaintiffs’ bar is using as a route to persuasion. The idea of framing cases based on personal fear and threats to community safety has made significant inroads in medical negligence, products liability, personal
Look Out for the Reptile Mediation Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The Reptile approach to trying plaintiffs’ cases has been around for a decade. It is now expected that many of those seeking damages in products, medical liability, and other personal injury cases, will use a persuasive approach that attempts to awaken jurors’ reptilian fear response and instinct to protect the
Careful Defendants, the ‘Reverse Reptile’ Could Be a Boomerang Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I have had a long-running interest in Don Keenan and David Ball’s perspective on plaintiffs’ trial and discovery advocacy called “The Reptile,” the notion that one can motivate jurors to side with a plaintiff by tapping into the tendency of the primordial reptile brain to flee from threats and gravitate
Be Craftier than the Snake: Observations from DRI’s 2018 ‘Reptile’ Seminar Read More »