By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: We’ve written frequently on themes: those little nuggets of language and meaning that distill a case to its persuasive essence. As consultants, we create themes even more frequently, trying to find the right message to leverage a case’s greatest strengths while minimizing or reframing its most important weaknesses. By definition, […]
Beware the Anti-Theme Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: An Iowa jury just handed down a $240 million verdict on behalf of 32 mentally disabled men who lived and worked for decades at a turkey processing plant and were paid just $65 a month. That verdict, the largest ever in an EEOC case, captures the jurors’ feelings about such blatant exploitation, but
Check Your Jurors’ Power Level Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Over the weekend I gave a presentation at a law firm retreat in Palm Springs. The presentation drew from a recent mock trial in an insurance dispute and the deliberation video clips I was playing could’ve been seen as a parade of mistakes: jurors ignoring instructions, flagrantly applying their own
See the Process and Not Just the Product in Deliberation Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Think about stage fright. Now, multiply it by two, or perhaps ten in some cases. Being in the witness chair in trial compounds what we traditionally think of as speech apprehension, because it adds not only greater degrees of formality, but also the knowledge that there is someone on the other
Witnesses, Don’t Get Too Comfortable Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The dramatic capture of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev last Friday immediately ignited a debate on whether the suspect should enjoy the protections of the Constitution. Republican Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte, along with Congressman Peter King, issued a joint statement applauding the initial decision not to Mirandize
Show Some Faith in the Jury System Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Last week in the U.S. Senate, a measure to require universal background checks on gun purchases failed to get the 60 votes needed to survive. The arguments supporting the common good of keeping firearms out of the wrong hands were, to 45 Senators, was not as strong as the individual rights
Speak to the Individual, Not the Common Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: This past Monday brought tragedy as bombs placed near the finish line of the Boston Marathon caused three deaths and hundreds of injuries. The attacks, at this point bearing the hallmarks of either an international or a domestic terrorist attack, have also reopened a wound in the national psyche, providing
Account for Mortal Thoughts After a Tragedy Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When I taught public speaking I’d ask students to picture an experiment. A group of people are being tested on their ability to shoot basketball freethrows, and they’re divided into subgroups (evenly matched on ability) and each subgroup prepares for the test differently. One group prepares by actually practicing with
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Fairy tales may not come true, but they may become the subject of withering cross-examination. In one of many “strange but true” moments during the Phoenix trial of Jodi Arias in the 2008 killing of her boyfriend Travis Alexander, prosecutor Juan Martinez and defense expert Alyce LaViolette sparred for over
Don’t Be Swallowed by Your Analogies Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: No shortage of discussion lately on gun control, with several states and the federal government considering limits on magazine size, which put a cap on how many bullets can be fired without reloading or changing the clip. But these are actually not the bullets I’m writing about today. Instead, my
Ban the Bullet (From Your Slides) Read More »