By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Across the country, police departments are moving toward greater use of individual officer body cams. The small, lightweight cameras are used to record police encounters from the officer’s perspective and can become evidence. In some ways, of course, this means greater protection for both the public and for honest police
Remember that the Camera Has a Bias Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Epistemology,” or the question of how we know what we know, seems like an abstract rather than a practical idea. But when it comes to the practical task of assessing and persuading jurors, the epistemological habits of those jurors can play a very real role. Their own styles of deciding what
Think About Your Juror’s Epistemology Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: There’s a logical reaction when one hears about some of the claims that end up as the basis for a medical malpractice claim. That reaction might go something like this: So the injury that the plaintiff complains of, that’s a known complication, isn’t it?
Emphasize Participation in Informed Consent Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Thanks to Batson and associated cases, we now have an uneasy working rule on voir dire in U.S. courtrooms: In exercising peremptory strikes, you can pick and choose on any basis…other than discriminatory ones. Basing strikes on race, ethnicity, gender, nationality and some other demographic categories is not allowed. That prohibition, however, is widely considered
Think Carefully About Disparate Impact in Voir Dire Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: So you’re picking an expert witness for your case. What kind of person do you want? Someone with the highest credentials from the best institutions? Someone with a lot of on-the-ground experience in this area? Someone who is able to teach effectively? Someone who just comes across as an approachable
Experts: Complete the Credibility Checklist Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The Reptile approach to trying plaintiffs’ cases has been around for a decade. It is now expected that many of those seeking damages in products, medical liability, and other personal injury cases, will use a persuasive approach that attempts to awaken jurors’ reptilian fear response and instinct to protect the
Careful Defendants, the ‘Reverse Reptile’ Could Be a Boomerang Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In one scenario, a worker is on a ladder, painting a ceiling at a local mall. The mall’s management did not order enough safety lines and the worker decides to go ahead and paint without one. After falling and being seriously injured, he sues for damages. The experiment indicates that responsibility
Ask If Your Jurors’ Causal Thinking Is Based on Facts or Possibilities Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The witness on the stand pauses before answering, then looks briefly up and to the right while giving a response. While listening to the next question, she places a finger over her lips, angles her head slightly, and raises one shoulder a bit higher than the other. Does any of
Beware of Nonverbal Pseudoscience Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: We know that once jurors make it through the gauntlet of jury selection and find themselves seated in the courtroom’s jury box, they’ll often be ennobled by their task and take it quite seriously. But consider the mindset of the mock juror. They’ve come in for a one-day project in a
Share the Stakes in Your Mock Trial Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Twas the night before trial, when all through the office, No settlement was stirring, so the war room was raucous; The filings were all filed with the court clerk with care, In hopes that the judge would finally be fair. Trial counsel then nestled all snug in their
Twas the Night Before Trial Read More »