By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: There is a new documentary in current rotation on HBO and and it’s one that trial lawyers and other legal junkies will want to watch. Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart provides a detailed look at the 1991 trial of the New Hampshire school employee who was tried and convicted for accessory
Listen to Jurors, Especially to Juror #13 From Pamela Smart Trial Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It’s always nice to announce a birth, to welcome something new into the world. In this case, weighing in at 15 letters and 6 syllables, it’s a new word: “prehabilitation!” And it’s a pretty useful word for those wanting to understand, teach, and most importantly, fix oral voir dire. The
Don’t Prehabilitate Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Litigation has one thing in common with real estate: location matters. There will be reliable differences when trying a case in one venue versus another. And some of the most reliable differences come down to the sometimes vast distance between a city jury and a country jury. The distinctions are
Compare the City and Country Juror Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Late last week, as large crowds in Ferguson continued to protest the police shooting of the 18-year-old unarmed Michael Brown, Police Chief Thomas Jackson made two announcements. One, he released the name of the officer involved (Darren Wilson) after it was already released by the hacker goup Anonymous. And two,
Take Care With Character Attacks Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I’ve known this since my days as a college professor: If you really want to learn something, then try teaching it. And there’s an important principle at the heart of that. The mindset of an active teacher is different — and better — than the mindset of a passive learner. When you’re
Prepare Your Jurors to be Teachers Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Every juror with a strong and relevant belief or experience is asked it in oral voir dire: “Would you be able to set that aside and base your decision on just the facts?” Attorneys conducting oral voir dire would do well to ask themselves the same question: “Are you able to
Lawyers, Set Aside Your Own Bias in Voir Dire Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Sometimes characters are important, but never seen. For example, Godot is waited for, but doesn’t make it to the stage. In HBO’s Veep, the President is often the center of the story, but is never seen or heard on screen. Even in the Charlie Brown cartoons, we hear about but never
Consider the Credibility of Your Missing Persons Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Shoot for the moon,” that motivational saying goes, “and even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Sounds nice, until the cynics (the kind who write demotivational posters) add, “…and die in the cold abyss of space.” Both the feel-good and the sarcastic versions of that sentiment have a
Counter the Plaintiff’s Damages Anchor (Especially When It’s Overboard) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Jurors often identify with the fact witness, and for a good reason. If there is one person in the courtroom with whom they have the most in common, it is the person in the witness chair – the person who also has no specialized legal training, and was, like them,
Witness, Mind Your Tone: Eleven Reminders Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Consider the expert witness mismatch: One expert represents the common mainstream scientific view, while the other expert is there to support a theory that lies on the far side of the credibility spectrum, and may have just barely survived a Daubert challenge. Yet what jurors see is an equivalency. One
Fight False Equivalency Among Experts Read More »