By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Do you think you miss valuable information in voir dire? What about your friends and colleagues who are trial lawyers: Do you think they miss valuable information in voir dire? The first question is self-directed: It is asking about you. But the second question is what they call a “social-circle” question, asking about […]
Ask Social-Circle Questions Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: How do you protect yourself against the nasty flu that is going around this winter? Well, you can partially protect yourself with a vaccination. Introducing your body to a weakened form of the bug helps to build up your ability to resist when exposed to the real bug later on.
Vaccinate Against Bad Arguments Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Persuading a group that will then go off and deliberate is a unique persuasive setting. In a way, it can be called ‘Second Order’ persuasion, because it isn’t just about the person being convinced in the moment they’re hearing your case, it is about them being both convinced in that
Turn Your Passive Juror Into an Active Advocate: Seven Ways Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Sometimes advocacy is 100 percent: Everything your client did, literally everything, was right. But other times — more often I would say, if we’re being honest — there is something that isn’t perfect. The defendant made some mistakes in how it handled the situation, or the plaintiff missed some steps when
Distinguish Between Hard and Soft Admissions of Fault Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Sometimes a theme captures the public imagination, and a dominant narrative comes into common use as an explanation for much of what is going on. Right now, that theme is corruption, and it is a narrative of powerful people doing the wrong things and keeping them a secret. It is Republicans
Corporate Corruption: Expect Sensitized Jurors Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Imagine that, after decades and generations of legitimate complaints relating to sexual harassment and abuse being played down and dismissed, they were — finally — being taken seriously. In the worlds of business, politics, and entertainment, powerful men are being forced out, as each day brings a new series of
Look Out for a #MeToo Backlash Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Entitlement” is the belief that one is deserving of privileges and special treatment. We’ve heard of entitled children, entitled Millennials, entitled wealthy, entitled college students, entitled new employees, entitled partners…. What about entitled jurors? Might there be some in the deliberation room who feel that they deserve to chart their
Consider the Entitled Juror Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: After a couple of weeks of “Will they or won’t they” palace intrigue involving Congress, the White House, the FBI and the DOJ, on Friday afternoon, the House Intelligence Committee finally released a four-page, declassified memorandum alleging that law enforcement officials had abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance process in obtaining
Treat Suspense as a Two-Edged Sword Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Maybe the mistake is in treating it as a “duty,” knowing that the things we do out of obligation are unlikely to be looked upon with anticipation and excitement. But “jury duty” is often framed as something to dread. Certainly, there are a great many stories of people who appreciated
Listen to Bitter Jurors (and Make It Better) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Those of us who work at the task of conducting and preparing for trials likely have a different view of the American jury than those who don’t. Where critics might see jurors as emotionally-driven, capricious, and hopelessly out of their element, we, based on our experience, are more likely to
Keep the Jury in Medical Malpractice Trials Read More »