By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: (Shared from The Pulse, Holland & Hart LLP) It has become common lore that a civil defendant can reduce damages from what they otherwise would have been by offering jurors a “low anchor” in the form of an alternate number. A Carrier Management article by Susanne Sclafane relates the advice, also […]
Defendants, Anchor Meaningfully Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: (Shared from The Pulse, Holland & Hart) My experience says “harder,” and that experience is reinforced to some extent, but also challenged to some extent, by an analysis conducted by researchers from UCLA and the Max Planck Institute. Steven Clayman and Mathew Fox (2025) conducted a review of video from more
Are Judges Making it Harder or Easier for Jurors to Admit Bias? Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: (Shared from The Pulse) Courts have somewhat recently discovered the concept of implicit bias, or the existence of deeply embedded preferences that can influence our likelihood of supporting or opposing a given party. To their credit, some courts have responded by addressing these biases as part of the voir dire process.
Can You Reliably Ask Jurors Not to Be Biased? Not Really Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: In a recent jury selection — and, pretty much, in every jury selection — I have watched as several on the panel would share various connections, attitudes, or experiences that could quite reasonably point to that person holding a bias in the case, before confidently declaring that they could “set it aside,” and
Don’t Just Ask IF a Potential Juror Can “Set Aside” Bias, Ask Them HOW They’ll Do It Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: 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 their users. The decision jurors are being asked to
Account for a Partisan Frame on a Corporate Scandal Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: 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 applications, but have thus far mostly resisted the full online embrace. Online engagement may be effective in luring teens
Expect Justice to be Served Online as Well Read More »
By Dr. Ava Zwolinski and Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Americans have long viewed large organizations, both governmental and corporate, with considerable skepticism. In civil litigation, jurors will often perceive corporate defendants through an interpretive lens colored by preconceived biases against corporations (e.g., they’re guided solely by profit, and they harm individuals for their own gain) as
Defendants, Look Out for Anti-Corporate Conspiracists on Your Jury Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Whether we are talking about Minnesota or Greenland, or a score of other contested narratives within the field of political conflict, the role of a person’s ideological and partisan leaning has probably never been more salient than it is now. The perception, at least, is that one’s orientation doesn’t just predict
Don’t Reduce Jurors to Their Political Identities (But Don’t Ignore It Either) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: When it comes to persuasive courtroom communication, there is a three-word piece of advice that is drilled into the marrow of every experienced litigator: Tell a story! Trial lawyers don’t go far without internalizing that advice. When it comes to applying the advice, however, most defendants will apply it most naturally and
Defense, Tell a Story on Damages Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: The courtroom had all the usual elements: oak paneling, parties, a judge, a jury box, a flag. Only in the jury box, instead of live human jurors, there were three large digital monitors on which appeared the “jurors” for this case: ChatGPT (OpenAI), Grok (xAI), and Claude (Anthropic). This event, held
Keep Your Jurors (and Mock Jurors) Human Read More »