By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Listen, pause, use your own words, and then stop. Sometimes witness advice should be covered in detail, and at other times you just need to bottom line it. A week or so ago, I was arriving for a meeting with attorneys just as a witness was leaving. “Is there any […]
Bottom Line Your Deposition Advice: Four Rules Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As the Beatles sang, “I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together” (I Am the Walrus). Okay, so it wasn’t their most coherent musical statement. But it does illustrate a critically important strategy in persuasion, particularly the “we are all together” part.
Appeal to the ‘Us’ in Your Audience Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As our “tax day” approaches, most Americans are engaged in that annual rite of legal compliance. While there might be gray areas and even some cheating, by and large, we do what the law requires, even when it is inconvenient or painful. But just off our shores, there is a zone with
Read Guantánamo Diary Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If you’re outside in the dark, maybe aided by a little starlight or moonlight, you can probably see your surroundings a bit dimly: You can’t see everything, but hopefully you see enough that you don’t stumble. Now, add a flashlight. The path you’re pointing the light at is now quite
Remember that Memory is Selection, not Retrieval Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Attorneys know that, in the public’s eye, the profession isn’t winning any popularity contests. In a Gallup poll last year, only 21 percent rated lawyers’ ethics as “high” (16 percent) or “very high” (5 percent). This compares to 80 percent who say nurses’ ethics are high and 65 percent who say the
Account for Anti-Lawyer Bias in Legal Malpractice Trials Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I am now involved in a rash of post-trial juror interviews. Currently, I have interviews in progress in three cases. As luck would have it, there is one win, one loss, and one draw (mistrial). While the calls have occupied a fair amount of my time lately, post-trial interviews more broadly
Follow Nine Rules for Post-Trial Juror Interviews Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Lawyers like to be efficient in communication, particularly in the setting of litigation, bound as it is by time and relevance. Perspicuity when persuading is considered a virtue in that setting and “Don’t do what isn’t necessary” is generally a good rule to follow. But on the subject of graphics,
Use Charts (Even If the Need Seems Trivial) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I often play the role of the “judge” during a mock trial. In that capacity, I have the pleasure of reading the legal instructions to the mock jurors just before they deliberate. While I’m droning on about “preponderance,” and “proximate cause,” and making the plaintiff “whole,” I am often met
Embrace Plain English Jury Instructions Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: A jury’s job is to judge the facts in a dispute in as neutral a fashion as possible. We expect them to give a party a fair hearing whether the party is just like them or completely dissimilar. The elderly conservative should be able to evaluate the dreadlocked artist as
Look for Increasing Tolerance (but Not Necessarily Greater Empathy) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: What is the greatest problem facing Americans? Is it climate change? Class division? Race relations? The sluggish economic recovery? The growing threat of terrorism? The risk of another Middle Eastern war? No, it’s none of those. According to a current Gallup poll tracing the last four months, the biggest challenge
Anticipate Antigovernment Attitudes Read More »