By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Modern life and communications tend to put up quite a few barriers to concentration. It’s easy to be distracted. Let’s say you are putting together an important memo when some other alternate possibilities creep into your awareness: Maybe you should check your calendar really quickly…or maybe see if any new […]
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Our trial system is set up so your adversary is on the other side and your judge is neutral. The courtroom layout illustrates that relationship, and trial procedure supports it. But at times, advocates can find themselves treating the judge as the adversary. Few examples rise to the level of presumptive
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Some witnesses approach their deposition or trial testimony with unmitigated dread, while others treat it as a walk in the park. While the scrutiny and possible entrapment can be terrifying to some, it just doesn’t register for others. We would like to think that the happy medium is a point
Witnesses: Cultivate (a Little) Overconfidence Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I don’t like the phrase “mind reading,” particularly as applied to juries and judges. It invokes some inaccurate stereotypes of what trial consultants do and of what is possible when watching or modeling a jury. Whenever I’m asked to sit in court to observe, I make sure the client is
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Attitudes are the foundation for what we believe and how we act. But that foundation is often a shifty one. In my last post, I wrote about the psychology of hypocrisy, noting the recent shift in attitudes toward Donald Trump after he became his party’s de facto nominee. His favorables
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: What is a “Duchenne smile?” It is not a smile that just involves the corners of your mouth turning up. Instead, it is a smile that activates both the muscles around the mouth as well as the muscles around the eyes. In all persuasive situations, we are told that a sincere smile
When You Smile, Make It a Duchenne Smile Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Every once in a while, popular culture rediscovers the idea that trial consultants exist. In 1995, it was the O.J. Simpson trial, then in 2003 it was the John Grisham novel turned movie, Runaway Jury. In the years between and since, that attention has been sparked periodically during media saturated trials
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: One of the core narratives of our nation is that we are a melting pot, e pluribus unum and all. Today, however, we see our modern reality as more of a “mosaic” or “quilt” owing to the notion that the pieces don’t “melt,” but retain their uniqueness. The result is diversity, and a diversity in
Don’t Expect Reliable Juror Differences Based on National Origin Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Just follow the law.” That is the message jurors hear in various forms from jury selection through the final words before deliberations. In addition to being the legally appropriate charge, it speaks generally to the jurors’ sincere intentions as well. With relatively few exceptions, jurors don’t want to set policy with their
Treat Your Jury as Not Just Legal, But Political and Moral as Well Read More »
by Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: We tend to believe that we navigate our way through the world based on our own conscious choices, and this perception of free will is an important part of our identity and our world view. Experienced litigators know that this perception of choice also plays an important role in how jurors and
Expect Jurors to Exaggerate the Role of Choice Read More »