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Adapting to Jurors

Climb Down the “Ladder of Abstraction” in Patent Cases (And All Cases)

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For many years, the word among intellectual property defendants has been “Don’t Mess With (the Eastern District of) Texas.” And statistics have borne that out. According to a recent analysis in the Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal (Pistorino & Crane, 2012), cases in the district have come down in favor […]

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Take a Lesson from the John Edwards Trial: With Sensitive Facts at the Heart of Your Case, Aim for a Desensitized Jury

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The case of The United States versus John Edwards has everything:  politics, sex, life, and death. The former vice-presidential and presidential candidate acquired a mistress and fathered a child during the campaign, behind the back of his cancer-stricken wife, then called upon a couple of key supporters to pay vast sums of

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Complex Case? Beware of “Low Effort Thinkers”

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For once, a social science concept that comes with an easy to understand label! “Low effort thinking” refers to a mental approach or habit that serves as a short-cut in lieu of a more systematic or careful analysis. In the spirit of full disclosure, though, the concept is sometimes dressed up

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Rely on Instructions to Curb the Socially Networked Juror

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The “Googling Juror” has emerged as a massive concern in the courts with plenty of stories on the process being thrown into mistrial by panelists who had to look up a fact, couldn’t take their finger off the Tweet button, and felt the need to “friend” parties, attorneys, and other

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Personify Loss

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: (Marie Colvin, Journalist, 1956-2012) Legal cases are about loss:  asserting, proving, disputing, and defending against loss.  Those who study and practice civil litigation have a strong interest in knowing how people comprehend and give meaning to loss, because that is what determines their reaction to your case.  And current events provide a

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Female Attorneys: Expect (But Don’t Accept) a Subtle Bias in the Courtroom

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I’ve sometimes been asked, “what is the effect of the attorney’s gender to a jury?”  It would sure be nice to be able to reply, “it doesn’t matter — a good attorney is a good attorney.”  But what does the data say?  Last week, the Forbes-affiliated “She Negotiates” blog reported on a survey

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