By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: At a time when we are surrounded by keyboards and tablets, the act of handwriting notes with actual pen and paper can seem like an anachronism. Even the writing-intensive field of law is moving away from handwriting, at least as measured by the newer generations of lawyers. For example, I […]
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: A trial lawyer prepares for opening statement. All the exhibits are ready and in order, the structure is laid out, and the themes are in place. Now, let’s just add in a few visuals — a timeline and perhaps a couple of charts — and it will be the icing
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For an attorney taking a deposition or conducting a cross-examination in trial, there is one key word that describes that attorney’s strategy: control. The questioning attorney wants, maybe needs, to control the witness in order to build useful testimony in a deposition or to highlight useful testimony in trial cross-examination. The
Witnesses: Know Your Seven Ways Out of the ‘Yes or No’ Trap Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Take the Reptile seriously, but don’t fear it. The en vogue strategic choice of the plaintiffs’ bar, the idea that trial persuasion can be leveraged by careful and targeted attention to the fear impulse of the so-called “reptilian brain,” (Keenan & Ball, 2009) is an idea that, regardless of its scientific foundation,
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In voir dire, sometimes you want to choose a strategic and indirect way of asking, and sometimes you just want to come straight out and ask the question directly. In an interesting illustration of the difference between the two, Jeremy Dean’s Psyblog recently shared the story of what must have been a
When You Want to Know, Ask Directly…Sometimes Read More »
by Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For the witness preparing for trial testimony, there is one common piece of advice: Study your deposition. In preparation sessions, I will always stress this advice, noting that a thorough knowledge of the deposition is both your sword and shield during trial testimony. Not only does it avoid or blunt the
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is one of the earliest and most heartbreaking tactics that children learn: Because social connections are powerful, taking those connections away is a weapon. So kids are left out, not included, not talked to, ignored. Ostracism from one’s peers may be a passive form of aggression, but it is
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is a common step on the road to trial or pretrial resolution: Have a mock trial! But as routine as that research step is, it is still never a small matter. The scope and scale of a mock trial varies widely, but it is not a small expense in either money or time.
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Have you heard of a company called Cambridge Analytica? Well, chances are, they’ve not only heard about you, they know quite a bit about you. Until recent months, the company had been a little-known data analysis outfit based in London. But based on a number of reports, including a very informative recent
Understand How the Presidential Campaign Rewrote the Book on Persuasion Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: From the frame of mind of the company attorney, a whistle-blower can signal the risk of litigation, high verdicts, or costly fines. From the frame of mind of the executives and CEOs, the whistle-blower can signal disloyalty, a person who is out, not for justice, but for some kind of revenge. To maintain
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