Bias

Don’t Just Ask IF a Potential Juror Can “Set Aside” Bias, Ask Them HOW They’ll Do It

Adapting to Jurors, Bias, Voir Dire / ken.brodabahm / April 29, 2026

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: In a recent jury selection — and, pretty much, in every jury selection — I have watched as several on the panel would share various connections, attitudes, or experiences that could quite reasonably point to that person holding a bias in the case, before confidently declaring that they could “set it aside,” and […]

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Account for a Partisan Frame on a Corporate Scandal

Adapting to Jurors, Bias, Narrative / ken.brodabahm / March 24, 2026

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: In a Los Angeles Civil trial, jurors recently heard arguments over whether some of the largest and most powerful companies in the world engaged in a secret plot — in an echo of the tobacco litigation of the 1980’s — to hook their users. The decision jurors are being asked to

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Defendants, Look Out for Anti-Corporate Conspiracists on Your Jury

Adapting to Jurors, Bias / ken.brodabahm / February 17, 2026

By Dr. Ava Zwolinski and Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Americans have long viewed large organizations, both governmental and corporate, with considerable skepticism. In civil litigation, jurors will often perceive corporate defendants through an interpretive lens colored by preconceived biases against corporations (e.g., they’re guided solely by profit, and they harm individuals for their own gain) as

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Don’t Reduce Jurors to Their Political Identities (But Don’t Ignore It Either)

Adapting to Jurors, Bias / ken.brodabahm / January 27, 2026

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Whether we are talking about Minnesota or Greenland, or a score of other contested narratives within the field of political conflict, the role of a person’s ideological and partisan leaning has probably never been more salient than it is now. The perception, at least, is that one’s orientation doesn’t just predict

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Expect More Extreme Anti-Corporate Attitudes

Bias / ken.brodabahm / July 15, 2025

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: In modern times at least, corporations have not been terribly popular. However, since the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO about a half a year ago in New York City, observers and the corporations themselves have been paying more attention to the extreme edges of these attitudes. For nearly two decades, Persuasion Strategies

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Follow Five Steps to a Successful Cause Challenge

Bias, Voir Dire / ken.brodabahm / June 17, 2025

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Cause challenges play an important role in jury selection. When a potential juror has an acknowledged barrier to basing their decision on a neutral understanding of the evidence and the law, they should not serve. However, when lawyers are exploring potential cause issues, I often see them taking an approach that

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Account for the Transformation of Your Jurors

Adapting to Jurors, Bias / ken.brodabahm / June 9, 2025

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Will the individuals who serve on your jury be the same people they were before they were called for service and selected? Will they have the same mental habits and preferences they exhibit in their civilian lives outside the courthouse? Will they be the same people they portray themselves to be

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Voir Dire on Attitudes Toward Wealth

Adapting to Jurors, Bias / ken.brodabahm / May 20, 2025

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: America’s civil litigation system can sometimes look a little like class warfare. On one side — often, but not always the defense — there will be an organization and a group of individuals who enjoy substantially more wealth than those on the other side. So what do we think about the

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Assess Regulator Credibility in Voir Dire

Bias / ken.brodabahm / January 29, 2025

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Government regulators can often play a role in civil litigation. In some cases, they’re involved as parties. More often, however, their role is as a proxy. In those situations, jurors might look at whether the defendant followed the regulations as a shortcut to determine whether the defendant acted reasonably or not.

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Account for the New Low in What Jurors Think of Health Insurers

Adapting to Jurors, Bias / ken.brodabahm / December 9, 2024

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: In Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol,” the final act is brought by the spectral Ghost of Christmas Future who shows the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge the vision of those he mistreated in life celebrating his death after he is gone. This Christmas, that part of the seasonal story might be hitting

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(formerly the Persuasive Litigator blog)