By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Here is a piece of advice that works not only as a trial message, but also as a strategy for avoiding trials in the first place: When someone loses their job, make sure it is for reasons that meet the legal tests, even when those tests aren’t legally required. For
Treat Your Terminations as “For Cause” (Even When They’re “At Will”) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Your opening is a story, I’ve written before, about what happened and about what kind of case this is. The closing is a different story, not about what happened, but what is about to happen: deliberations and a verdict, hopefully in your favor. It makes little sense to go all
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The Hippocratic oath also applies to doctors caught in the litigation process. In deposition, the rule is “first, do no harm” to your case. No one wins their own case in deposition. But a medical defendant might end up losing it by falling prey to some common mistakes. Depositions are taken in order
Turn in a Powerful Deposition, Doctor Defendant Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Lessons for litigation sometimes come from unlikely sources. Take the recent explosion of attention to the issue of marriage equality for gays and lesbians, ignited by the President’s recent statement of personal support. His evolution of opinion follows an important milestone in public support: The proportion of Americans who agree
Don’t Discount a Motivated Minority Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It will not go down as one of the doctor’s smartest Facebook updates. Returning to work at Wales General Hospital last December, Dr. Brendan O’Riordan added a note on his status: “Back and causing chaos,” he wrote, “Been in theatre this week slaughtering the innocent.” That stab at humor is
Vet Your Public Persona Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Not all witnesses are saints. While this is especially well-known in the realm of criminal prosecution, it applies in civil trials as well. A witness may carry some unsavory background, or the context may simply be such that their testimony – truthful or not – feels like betrayal. The same
Test the Credibility of Your Turncoat Witness Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In a new law journal article, University of Kansas law professor Melanie Wilson asks us to consider a situation in which a stranger approaches us on the street and politely asks us whether we’ve ever been a victim of sexual assault or abuse, whether we’ve ever been investigated by the
Jury Selection: Probe But Don’t Embarrass Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I can remember the first time I wrote a theme for a bench trial many years ago. The trial team used the theme, and used it as themes should be used, which is to say, emphatically and repeatedly. And it worked: The judge actually included the theme in his written
Make Your Trial Theme Cinematic…Or At Least Memorable Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For many years, the word among intellectual property defendants has been “Don’t Mess With (the Eastern District of) Texas.” And statistics have borne that out. According to a recent analysis in the Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal (Pistorino & Crane, 2012), cases in the district have come down in favor
Climb Down the “Ladder of Abstraction” in Patent Cases (And All Cases) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The case of The United States versus John Edwards has everything: politics, sex, life, and death. The former vice-presidential and presidential candidate acquired a mistress and fathered a child during the campaign, behind the back of his cancer-stricken wife, then called upon a couple of key supporters to pay vast sums of