By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Pick a trial venue in the United States, grab the average citizen who shows up for jury duty and put them next to the average attorney: What will stand out most immediately are the differences. Comparing education, social class, linguistic ability, habits, and a bevy of other qualities, you might
Be Real: Seven Ways to Humanize Yourself to Your Jury Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: How good are you at knowing when people are telling you the truth and when they’re lying? Generally, I’d wager that the average person probably thinks they’re better than average. And those who are self-styled experts or who have undergone training in lie detection likely believe that they have a
Expect Your Jury to Be a Pretty Good Lie Detector Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Flip a coin, roll the dice, pick a number, throw a dart — there is no shortage of metaphors for the perceived randomness of juries. That belief that “anything can happen,” is applied to some extent to the whole jury model, but nowhere more so than on the topic of
Make Your Damages Numbers Meaningful Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: There’s a movie currently in the theaters called “Inside Out.” In the animated film, pyschological drives are personified as characters – joy, anger, disgust, fear, and sadness – all in charge of navigating the mental experiences of the main character, an 11-year-old girl. Beyond being a bit of entertainment for
Design Your Metaphor Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Based on recent events, we are still a long way from Dr. King’s dream of a nation where his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The horrific murder of nine worshipers in the Emanuel African Methodist Church in
Consider Character Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: My 8-year-0ld daughter is currently obsessed with a game called “Minecraft.” She is using increasing portions of her precious screen time to sign into her “worlds” in order to build and develop elaborate houses and other buildings. As I understand it, the point isn’t to rack up a high score or
Make Your Jurors “Structure Builders” Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When supporters praise the American jury, it is often in the sepia-toned romantic terms of history. But, to George Washington Law Professor Renee Lettow Lerner, it is more like Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” She writes, “Americans’ romance with the jury – bordering on religious devotion – is doing us no
No, Don’t Repeal the Civil Jury: A Response to Professor Renee Lettow Lerner Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: You’ll see it often in mock trials: The last measure of mock jurors’ individual leanings on the case will show a healthy disagreement, but once they start deliberating, all or nearly all of them seem to be of one mind. Somehow, conformity has established itself in the earliest moments of
Take Care With Conformity Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When I was still a graduate student, I remember the Reverend Jesse Jackson delivering the 1988 Democratic Convention address in Atlanta: his famous “Common Ground” speech. In that wide-ranging address, he tied together diverse issues — expansion of the party, the arms race, voting rights, health care, student loans —
Create Common Ground Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: With Americans increasingly getting their news online via Facebook and similar platforms, our already divided society is at risk of becoming even more polarized. Some of the blame for that has centered on the computerized algorithms that influence what appears in our online newsfeeds, and have a parallel in the
Improve Adaptation by Expanding Your Social Network Read More »