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(formerly the Persuasive Litigator blog)

Author name: ken.brodabahm

Yes, Virginia, There is a CSI Effect: Account for It in Your Science Case

Adapting to Jurors, Public Perception / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The news media pounced on it, but the scholars said it didn’t exist.  The “CSI Effect,” or the tendency for high technology crime dramas to fuel a juror expectation for sophisticated investigations and definite answers, entered the popular and media imagination as a powerful effect that could stymie prosecution (by creating unrealistic evidentiary

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Parties, Witnesses and Jurors: Don’t Be Afraid to Meet Them Face to Face(book)

Social Media, Voir Dire / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Here is a question of trust.  You’re curious about a party, a witness, or a potential juror, so you log in to Facebook or some other social networking site to check them out.  It might feel a little creepy to be peeking in on the public representations of your target’s private life, though

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Remember Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” Plan, and Don’t Forget the Power of a Good Mnemonic

Comprehension, Opening Statement, Visual Communication / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Whatever you think of Republican Presidential contender and former pizza magnate Herman Cain, you’ve got to give him credit for creating a theme using only three digits… and a theme about tax policy, no less.  Mr. Cain has been ascendant recently in the race for the GOP nomination, largely based

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Take a Lesson from the Conrad Murray Defense: Don’t Make Promises in Opening that You Can’t Keep

Adapting to Jurors, Opening Statement / /

Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is generally a mistake to change strategies in the middle of trial.  Dr. Conrad Murray, the personal physician hired to care for Michael Jackson during the rehearsals for his comeback tour, is now in trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in the entertainer’s death, based on his administration of Propofol, a drug usually administered

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Know the Limits of Limiting Instructions (But Don’t Necessarily Discard the Instruction to Disregard)

Adapting to Jurors, Comprehension / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As you begin reading this post, please don’t think about the white bear.  Seriously, don’t think about it. Did that work?  Or are you now thinking about the white bear even more?  That is the classic example in psychology research on the counterproductive effect of “thought suppression” instructions.  Test subjects given

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With Computers and Witnesses, Expect Memory Errors

Comprehension, Witness Preparation / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: My computer and I are currently fighting.  In my Dell laptop’s fragile state, even the simplest actions can result in a freeze, or one of those inscrutable Microsoft messages, like “the instruction at 0x00630522 referenced memory at 0x04d92670 and the memory could not be ‘read’”(as if that information helps the typical user: 

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Bad Company: Investigate the Sources of Anti-Corporate Attitudes

Adapting to Jurors, Bias, Public Perception / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As we enter the 20th day of protesters’ continued occupation of Wall Street, and sit-ins spread to similar sites across the country, what stands out the most is the sheer variety of their causes.  The first declaration to emerge from the Wall Street encampment highlights concerns ranging from home foreclosures, to government bailouts, faulty products, medical

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Don’t Be Afraid of a Little Humiliation in the Courtroom

Adapting to Jurors / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Rushing into the courtroom, late in returning from a break, the lawyer stood before the already seated jury, red-faced, but with a self-deprecating smile.  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is what every lawyer fears, and I’m truly…mortified to have kept you waiting.”  And the jury responded not with irritation, but with

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Aim Your Damages, And Your Case, at “The Golden Mean”

Adapting to Jurors, Damages / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – Aristotle, the original philosopher of communication, wrote in The Nicomachean Ethics about “the Golden Mean, ” or the idea that virtue is often a happy medium between two vices (for example, courage is the virtue wedged between the vices of recklessness on the one hand, and cowardice on the other).   More

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