By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “I have considered giving people popcorn,” U.S. District Judge Kathleen Forrest told lawyers in the SEC’s fraud case against Fabrice Tourre which headed to the jury yesterday. “I’m going to tell you what I think is obvious,” the judge told counsel three days into trial, “We’re losing some of the […]
Keep Boredom at Bay Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Law firms and legal departments continue to lag behind when it comes to racial diversity. Based on several indicators, the legal profession is still among the least ethnically and racially diverse professions in the United States. Those who do the hiring in legal fields are well aware of this gap
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If you’ve spent any time in civil courtrooms, you’ve seen it before. The witness in the box fudges an answer and says something that differs a bit from their deposition, and the solemn ritual of impeachment begins. With great fanfare, the official copy of the deposition is unsealed. Do you
Know When to Pursue Witness Inconsistency and When to Let it Go Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The current cover of The Rolling Stone, usually reserved for the popular idols of our time, bears the face of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, complete with Hollywood good looks and a rock star sulk. That hasn’t gone over so well. The magazine is no stranger to controversy and expected
Respect Your Idols Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “It was hard thinking that someone lost their life,” Juror B37 said through tears, “and there’s nothing else could be done about it. I mean, it’s what happened. It’s sad. It’s a tragedy this happened, but it happened.”
Go for “Mad” Not “Sad” When You’ve Got the Burden: Listening to Juror B37 Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Over the weekend, the jury in the George Zimmerman case acquitted the neighborhood watchman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, evidently concluding that the prosecution failed to disprove the Defendant’s self-defense claim under Florida law. While there were numerous issues driving interest in this trial — racial profiling, concealed
Note the (Small) Difference a Female Jury Can Make Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: You see the witness on the stand testifying. As she speaks, a storm of movements large and small cross her face and influence her posture and body. “She is nervous,” one juror thinks, “because she is just trying to say what the attorneys told her to say.” Meanwhile,
Adapt to Inconsistent Assessments of Witness Demeanor Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: With the travel plans of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden still up in the air at press time, the asylum seeker continues to draw attention to the extent of government surveillance of private communications in the U.S. and abroad. Some have questioned whether the diplomatic capital being expended on the dispute
Expect Secret Information to Be Overvalued Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm Earlier this Spring, a courthouse in Jackson Mississippi was actually invaded by snakes. That story might have made some in the plaintiff’s bar smile a bit, since in their view, Reptiles have been invading American courtrooms across the country for a few years now. Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the
Tame the Reptile in Your MedMal Defense Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Looking at the pictures above, you can’t help but focus on what isn’t there: The triangle, the pole, the sphere, and the snake below the surface. That focus isn’t a voluntary choice, but an artifact of the way our pattern-loving brain processes. We are impatient with incompleteness or ambiguity and
Address the Need for Closure Read More »