By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: A couple of months ago, I helped to run the Online Courtroom Project’s demonstration jury trial using Zoom. Like a number of other experiments and actual trials going forward across the country, jurors showed up via laptop and camera to view voir dire, openings, witnesses, closings, and instructions, then moved to […]
Appreciate that Your Jurors Need Informal Conversation Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: These are stressful times, and there are many reasons to expect that your jury pool in the near future is going to be a little stressed out. In the article, “The Pandemic Juror,” (Wilson 2020) a University of Tennessee law professor noted what many of us have observed: Jurors who
Understand Juror Anxiety Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When Trump associate Roger Stone was sentenced last month for obstruction of Congress and witness tampering, there was some pushback from media, Stone’s legal team, and the President himself targeting the jury’s foreperson, a focus of a recent post in this blog. As part of that pushback, we have seen some
Ask the Court to Help You Look for Stealth Jurors Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The art of training legal advocates has a long and honorable history. For example, the Socratic method used in law school is still an unbeatable way to teach critical thinking. But what about trial advocacy? On that score, many programs like NITA and some of our firm’s in-house programs have
Use B.A.T.A. to Get Better Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Love” may mean, “Never having to say your sorry,” but litigation does not mean that. In some defense cases, sure, what’s needed is an all-out answer that denies everything the plaintiff is saying. But in other cases, there might be something to apologize for. Consider, for example, a large corporation’s
Find Your Six Ways to Sorry Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Watching a mock jury deliberate about damages can give you the idea that when it comes to numbers, jurors can be a little random. For example, a jury might see a big difference between $500,000 and $1 million in one moment, and then act as though there is little to
Add Numeracy to Your Jury Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Trial lawyers are used to persuading with their arguments and with their evidence. But what about the voice? It stands to reason that tone matters, but does it matter enough to influence persuasion? Some attorneys, even while understanding that they need to be heard and need to keep an active
Persuade With Your Voice Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: This past week, the U.S. Senate impeachment trial started in earnest, and the House Managers began laying out the arguments underlying the two Articles of Impeachment. While opinions are divided on the quality of the presentations as much as they’re decided on the substance of the charges, one clear star
“Let That Sink In:” Learn from Adam Schiff’s Rhetorical Pause Techniques Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Litigators are used to arguing, refuting, and persuading. When it comes to selecting jurors, they’re also used to uncovering bias. But what is “debiasing”? While my spellchecker continues to reject the term, academics have been applying and studying the concept for many years. It means reducing or mitigating the effects of a
Add “Debiasing” to Your Trial Communication Vocabulary Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Both theory and experience say that there are two kinds of thinking. One is focused thinking, zeroing in on a topic, analytically and systematically. The other is diffuse thinking, abstract and constrained only by association or whim. If focused thinking marches across the terrain with destination and purpose, then diffuse
Focus on the Focused, but also Deal with the Diffuse Read More »