By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When you stand in front of a jury, laying out your opening story or closing your arguments, who are you talking to? “To the jury, of course.” Yes, but which jurors in particular? The conventional wisdom is that you should be talking to your tougher audience. In other words, in […]
Choose Your Persuasive Target Read More »
by Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When we engage in arguments, perhaps on social media or even around the table at Christmas dinner, it is easy to notice that there is something different about those at the extremes. Extremists are so filled with confidence about all of their beliefs, while those in the middle are likely
Beware of Extremist Bias Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Let’s say the client you represent in litigation did something wrong. And, let’s further say, that they understand that they need to admit it and ask a jury to get past it. There’s still a case to be tried: Maybe it focuses on damages, or on causation, or on some
Client Made a Mistake? Focus on the Factors of Forgiveness Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Yesterday was an historic day in the U.S. House of Representatives. For more than eight hours, Democratic and Republican members of the body gave short alternating speeches for and against the motion, before impeaching Donald Trump for abuse of office and obstruction of Congress. Watching the livestream on background as
Reduce Repetition: Four Ways to Break the ‘We’ve Heard This’ Reaction Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Once, while I was monitoring a science-intensive agricultural contamination case, we asked permission for one of our expert witnesses to have the jurors peer into a dark box where they could see a petri dish with a bacteria culture under a black light. Our expert, not knowing better as it
Use Physical Exhibits: Be 3-D Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Every day, we are reminded that we live in a new age that can be called “post-truth.” We pay a lot of attention to external sources of misinformation, whether it is motivated public figures, partisan news networks or questionable private news blogs, not to mention the variety of memes, bots,
Expect that Jurors Might Generate Their Own Fake News Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: There is one habit of attorneys that promotes precision in analytical thinking, but often interferes with the ability to clearly communicate with the audience. That habit is the tendency to divide points into sub-points, and to further divide those sub-points into sub-sub-points, and so on. For example, in the world
Don’t Ask Your Audience to Follow Substructure: Five Reasons Flat Structure Is Better Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The arc of history has been moving, albeit in fits and starts, toward gender equality. In the business world, and a little less in the legal world, we see more female leaders at the top. But once a woman reaches that point, is she held to the same standards? Would
Account for the ‘Ethics Tax’ on Female Leaders Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: You’ve probably seen the claim, but is it really true that our attention spans are becoming shorter than that of a goldfish? Last year, the presentation software company called Prezi released its 2018 State of Attention Report, focusing on the question of what is going on with the attention span of
Adapt to Evolving Attention Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I remember once sitting in court early into the defense opening statement, and the attorney was busy thanking the jurors, again. Even though they had already heard the spiel from the other side, and from this attorney’s colleague during voir dire, they were receiving another explanation of just how much
Thank Your Jurors…Just Don’t Go Overboard Read More »