By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Critics of the jury system, or simply those who are nervous about taking part, will sometimes characterize a jury’s result as a kind of crap shoot. The feeling is that they’re inconsistent, and subject to the idiosyncrasies of group influence. “A jury can do anything,” I’ve sometimes heard counsel tell
Trust the Norming Effect of Deliberations Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Site visits can sometimes be a part of a criminal case — and predictably, jurors love them as much as school kids love field trips. It can also matter in civil cases, to see where the auto accident or the personal injury took place. But as helpful as these visits
Bring Your Jury to the Scene, Virtually Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For more than a year, many of us have been presenting to audiences by Zoom or other web-conferencing platforms rather than presenting in person. Largely, the experience has lived up to the challenge, convincing many in the process that the online presentation is a viable alternative in handling the challenges
Presenters, Don’t Be Eclipsed By Your Screen Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In legal settings, the emphasis is often on the positive act of giving arguments and evidence for a given outcome: Share the proof and the reasons to believe, and let those appeals work their magic on your audience. But there is also a flip side to that. Persuasion can also
Reduce Resistance, Tell Stories Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: At this point, coronavirus precautions in America seem to be on the honor system. With the CDC’s new guidance last week indicating that fully vaccinated Americans could go without masking or distancing in most indoor and outdoor situations, we now face a conundrum when we see someone going about unprotected:
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney has just been stripped of her leadership role as the number three Republican in the House. The precipitating incident seems to be that she would not silence her claim that the 2020 Presidential election was not stolen and continuing to criticize the former President for leading
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: With the extended pandemic restrictions and the resulting court backlogs across the country, we have moved tentatively into the world of online trials and hearings, with participants joining from different locations. In that distributed setting, many critics have argued that the resulting process just cannot possibly be the same. The
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The idea is a merger of pop culture with academics. In pop culture, “truthiness” refers facetiously to the feeling of something being true, independent of its actual truth value (a term coined by late-night comedian, Stephen Colbert). Academics, however, have creatively adopted the term to describe the real phenomenon that occurs when
Witnesses, Add to Your ‘Truthiness’ by Showing Pictures Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: A few years ago, I had the opportunity to attend every day of a civil trial, and then interview all of the jurors at the end of their service. I planned out a very comprehensive interview for each of them, including running through the witness lists from all parties, and
Direct Examination: Start With a Goal, Not an Outline Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I write this blog principally for litigators, but sometimes it is worth remembering that transactional attorneys are also advocates who, depending on the circumstances, may also have persuasive goals. The point of seeking to influence, particularly when the transaction may become the subject of future legal battles, is a place
Tell a Story with Your Transactional Documents Read More »