By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Perceptions can be tricky. Take the picture above for example: If you’ll do something right now, I promise that you’ll be amazed. Stand up from in front of your monitor and step back about 15 feet from the computer, and you’ll see Albert Einstein turn into Marilyn Monroe. Seriously! The image doesn’t change of […]
When it Comes to Bad Defense Venues, Treat Perception as Reality Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Sometimes the bandwagon isn’t a bad place to be. If your case embraces what is likely to be the popular position (e.g., the big company is to blame or the accused is guilty), then a tidal wave of opinion reaching a swift conclusion, and sweeping the doubters along in its wake,
Help Jurors Stay Off the Bandwagon Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Many hold that stories are essential to effective communication, and I am among them. Especially in litigation, there is a natural role for stories as a glue holding together the facts and the law, the ethics and the evidence, the logic and the persuasion. I believe that and apply it in my
Don’t Put “Story” on Too High a Pedestal Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Apologies are very much in vogue. If you accidentally run your cruise ship aground, or surreptitiously wiretap phones in order to discover great newspaper stories, then it has become a well-known next step in the script to make a public apology. The shamed politician, loose-lipped celebrity, and the guilty criminal all recognize the
Don’t Make Fake, or Fatal, Apologies Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: At a conference, I once met another consultant who actually claimed that his mock trial findings would line up with actual trial results with a definite confidence interval of, he said, plus or minus five percent. It was one of those conference moments when you realize that you urgently need
Don’t Be Entranced By Statistical Claims From Mock Trial Research Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Leave it to the engineers. While we all have our subjective methods of estimating our odds in litigation, in the field of construction litigation, the act of handicapping has apparently been raised to a level of mathematical precision. Computer modelers have found a way to input known factors and predict
Add Another Pair of Eyes to Your Case Assessment Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Whatever happened to causation,” defendants sometimes wonder. For example, a drug company is targeted for inadequate testing, and for attempting to hide research showing a statistical link to cancer. The Plaintiff took the drug, and now has cancer. For many jurors, that would prompt them to break out the check-book: “Liability established… Lets talk
Mind the Gap: Stop Jurors From Jumping Straight From Liability to Damages Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As the pack of Republican presidential contenders heads out of Iowa, there is an important lesson for litigators and other persuaders, but it is partly simple and partly complex. The simple part is that negative campaigning works. Just ask Newt Gingrich who was on the receiving end of more than four million dollars
Take a Lesson from Political Campaigns: Going Negative Works (Partially) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As we turn the page on a new year, it is a good time to look back on the trials of 2011. The year had its share of high profile cases from the ‘second times a charm’ prosecution of Rod Blagojevich, to the conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray, and even the grand jury phases
Apply “Social Listening” To Your Case Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Around the war room conference table, all of the eyebrows went up at once as I shared a recommendation for the opening statement. I can’t share the idea without revealing the case, but suffice it to say that it was unorthodox. Several around the table shared that they had never done
Create the Conditions for a Creative Trial Strategy Read More »