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Author name: ken.brodabahm

Ask for a Jury Questionnaire Every Time, Especially Now

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In the early preparation for a jury selection, I will often ask the team if there are plans for a supplemental juror questionnaire. Sometimes the answer is that there aren’t any such plans, and they haven’t really thought of that. Attorneys, with some justification, might assume that the other side

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Fact-Check the Misinformed, but Remember that Experiences Are as Strong as Facts

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Potential jurors arrive at the courtroom with misinformation that might bear on your case. They could have opinions on scientific validity and reliability that will conflict with what your experts will tell them. They might have views on social groups that prevent them from seeing your witnesses fairly. They might

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Defense Opening: Give Jurors a Reason for an Open Mind, Not Just a Request for One

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For many defense attorneys, there is a routine to the way that they’ll ask jurors to be fair at the start of their opening statement: There are two sides, you haven’t heard the whole story, please keep an open mind. It almost takes on the quality of a ritual incantation, done as much

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The #When? of #MeToo: Know When Delayed Reports Are Credible

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Based on a recent and extensive report from New York’s Attorney General, the state’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, is now facing numerous credible claims of a pattern of sexual harassment, with his fellow Democrats, including the President, calling on him to step down. Some of the claims against him, including the

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Expect Another Silver Lining to Online Trials: Shadow Juries Just Got Easier and Safer

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The jurors assemble and begin watching the trial — not the actual jurors but the shadow jurors, the ones who are recruited by one side, matched to the real jurors, and offer feedback on the trial as it comes in. They watch opening statements, and each of the witnesses, and

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Once More, Into the Mask: Expect a Post-Pandemic Courtroom to be a Ways Off

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is as if the public health groundhog emerged from its den, saw its shadow, and now promises six more months of confusion, polarization, and pandemic fatigue. With the more-transmissible Delta variant of the Coronavirus surging across the country, there is concern that we may not be over the hill

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