Author name: ken.brodabahm

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As a litigation consultant with an academic background, I am in a unique position: I stay abreast of the social science research (the blog schedule makes sure of that), but I also spend my days working with trial lawyers on the practical needs of cases going to trial. From that […]

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Her key witness is still on the stand. Direct examination went well, and now the other side’s cross-examination is just wrapping up. Standing up for redirect, the attorney looks at her notes: Coming out of cross, there’s a pretty long list of concessions, misleading answers, or unclear implications, and all of them need

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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