By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Justin Bieber, the Canadian tween-idol, is now in the career phase of trying to kill his early Disney-fied image by becoming a bad and dangerous character (see also Miley Cyrus). In a U.S. civil case involving alleged physical assault committed by Bieber’s bodyguards, he recently had his deposition taken. Now, […]
Testify Without Contempt Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Jury nullification is treated as a deep and dangerous secret. The idea that a jury can decide to follow its own moral guidance instead of following the law, is the legal doctrine that dare not speak its name, at least not anywhere near a courtroom. It’s been used as ammo
Treat Nullification as a Known Option Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The prospects for persuasion in some cases can seem quite dismal. Those who are most committed to a false belief, and therefore most in need of persuasion, are also those who are most likely to turn away information that questions those existing views. Indeed, the act of hearing and responding
Account for Both Cue and Rebound Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If a “hot bench” is one that involves a judge actively participating in oral argument with questions and responses, then a “cold bench” must be one in which the judge just sits silently and watches. By that standard, there is no better exemplar of the cold bench than U.S. Supreme
Know How to Address a “Cold Bench” Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Consider for a moment what is going on in the minds of jurors. They’ve been asked to sit in judgment of the actions of another in a way that will have a direct and immediate effect on either the freedom or the fortunes of that party. It’s a setting that
Know Your ‘God-Thinking’ (Book Review) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: We’ve all heard the old saying: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. It is true that when meeting someone new, our brain is quickly putting them into a number of categories. Their background, intelligence, friendliness, attitudes, trustworthiness, and a myriad of other aspects of character
Expect First Impressions to be Carved in Stone Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Some great practical ideas for persuasion come from the field of marketing. To be sure, not all apply in legal settings, but marketing offers a laboratory where the practical aspects of human influence can be addressed in a situation that often carries high stakes and measurable results. I recently came
Use the ‘Persuasion Slide’ Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: There are strategies and techniques, and then there are fundamental bedrock principles of human communication. The use of story and narrative structure definitely falls in the later category, perhaps to a greater degree than we’ve previously thought. I’ve written before that stories can show us what’s moral, fill gaps in
Arc Your Trial Story Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If you read articles online and continue into the “comments” section, it doesn’t take long to find them: individuals, usually anonymous, who are engaged in surprisingly hostile and personal exchanges with strangers — and they seem to relish the sport. Who are these people, I’ll often wonder, and what motivates
Look Out for Trolls Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It’s Valentine’s time again. It’s a holiday of love, but in the political world, we’re moving out of yet another debt ceiling standoff and there is no love lost between the two sides of the spectrum. Liberals point to yet another, albeit failed, attempt to hold the country’s full faith and
Account for Ideological Intolerance Read More »