By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: An attorney at our firm, tapped to give a CLE talk, asked me recently if I had anything on the “science of persuasion.” Pretty broad. I wondered where to begin, but it did get me thinking. At the most general, 30,000-foot level, what is the science of persuasion? Does the […]
See Persuasion as a Process (Toward a Unified Theory of Legal Persuasion) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Here is the most important thing you can ever possibly learn in law: Hyperbole will absolutely crush your chances of winning. Okay, maybe that’s a little over the top, but there is something about legal writing and oral advocacy that can sometimes encourage a tone of exaggeration that reduces credibility.
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In New Jersey, a Plaintiff recently brought an auto personal injury case to trial. It was one of those scenarios where the damage to the occupants was greater than the damage to the vehicle, so the attorney trying the case properly wanted to know if any prospective jurors on the
Ask Open-Ended Questions to Select Your Jury Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The issue of “fake news” has been in the news — the actual news — a lot lately. The ease and speed of sharing via social networks has made it common for fake stories to be accepted, trusted, and passed around. One story, for example, tells of Trump protestors being
Link the New to the Known Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I recently finished sitting in on a three-week trial, and throughout the testimony, many of the experts were led through their direct. One expert in particular, the other side’s expert thankfully, made it through her entire direct examination without saying anything other than her name, “Yes,” and “That’s correct.” Even on
Hire an Expert Who Doesn’t Want or Need to be Led Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: America’s new president-elect may see a courtroom before he moves into the oval office. While the Defense has filed a motion to delay in order to allow time for settlement, the trial in a lawsuit by former Trump University students is currently scheduled to begin in San Diego on November 28th. In a recent
Know Your Trump Juror Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: 2016 will be remembered as the year the polls and the pundits were wrong. After enjoying a relatively clear lead in the polls throughout the election, and being predicted as the winner by previously credible poll aggregators like the Huffpolster and Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight blog, and after the majority of talking
The Trumpening: Take Some Lessons from an Unexpected Election Result Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: We have finally, some would say ‘mercifully,’ arrived at the end of the 2016 presidential campaign. But not before one last surprise: Just eleven days before election day, and as millions of Americans were already voting early, FBI Director James Comey notified Congress of the discovery of additional emails that “appear to
Shine a Light on Black Box Evidence Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It usually happens about five minutes into a corporate defense opening statement: the “good company” story. Jurors will hear about the history, moral commitments, and good works that this company does within the community. This “Corporate Social Responsibility” or “CSR” message is a staple for some attorneys, but does it really
Refine Your ‘Good Company’ Story Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Witnesses who are new to the demands of deposition or trial testimony sometimes have the misperception that testifying is just a matter of getting past each question as it comes. Seeing it as a kind of a quiz, the witness thinks the examining attorney just has a collection of questions, each one
Witnesses: Fight on the Bottom Rungs Read More »