By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Trial is coming up, the witness is told: “Be at the courthouse by 7:30 Monday morning, meet us in the office on Friday, and oh, remember to carefully review your deposition.” The court date might be a relief after a long wait, the meetings with counsel should help to add […]
Use Your Deposition as Your Sword and Shield Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In the early Sixties as Adolf Eichmann’s Nazi war crimes trial was taking place in Jerusalem, the world was asking, was there something different about those who committed crimes on that scale, or were they just obeying orders? Just a few months later, a social scientist began a series of
By Dr. Broda Bahm: When I give the orientation at the beginning of a mock trial, I’ll typically say something like, “Because this is a shortened version of a trial, you aren’t going to be able to hear everything. We will boil it down, summarize, and avoid some of the details, and we do that
Excluded Evidence: If Jurors Can’t Know “What,” Help Them Understand “Why Not” Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is one of those research findings you would expect to be true, like: “Studying improves performance” or “Happier people are more productive.” But it is reassuring to find that research supports the notion that legal professionals are less likely to exhibit bias based on gender. After all, it does
Expect Less Gender Bias from Professional Fact Finders Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Well, it has been yet another fascinating week for people like me who are interested in political communication. This week, Congress kicked off hearings dealing with some explosive charges regarding a foreign country’s influence on our election, and possible coordination with a political campaign. On Monday, Adam B. Schiff, who represents California’s
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In the first of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the heroine of the story is demanding to be taken back to shore and invoking something called “The Pirate Code” to make her case. The pirate, Captain Barbossa, responds: First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our
To Address Implicit Bias, Rely on Rules Not Standards Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I have this theory, and because it is mine, I believe it. That, in a nutshell, is the explanation of a new and unique bias that has recently been demonstrated by social science researchers. The bias is called, “Spontaneous Preference for Own Theories,” or SPOT for short, and the explanation is
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The racial composition is probably one of the first things we notice when venire members file in before jury selection. When recruiting for a mock trial, we will try to match the composition of the venue. Along with other demographics, race is not nearly as predictive as some might think. As a
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I had one important early experience in trial consulting that I’ve kept in my head over the years. It was actually on my first job after moving to Persuasion Strategies many years ago. Attorneys we knew were working with a very large national litigation consulting group in hosting a mock trial. The client
Keep Your Trial Consultant (a Little Bit) in the Dark Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Have you ever found yourself in an argument where the other side just keeps digging in deeper? Instead of conceding, agreeing, or even just softening their stance, they’re becoming even more committed to a position that (you think) you have shown to be incorrect? The more facts and reasons you
Meet Your Skeptics Where They Live Read More »