By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It has become commonplace to note that, as a country, we seem to be more divided than ever – divided on politics, education, rural-urban living, religion, you name it. But topics relating to the ways we generate energy and the extent to which we should protect the environment in the
Expect Common Ground on Green Energy Attitudes Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: You’ve heard the expression: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Maybe there is a relationship between the two, but in the courtroom, and in the practical task of assessing experience and attitudes during voir dire, they are two different things. First, there is the question of how much knowledge and experience jurors will
The Oil and Gas Juror: Look for Both Familiarity and Contempt Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The way trial and deposition testimony works is that you hear from one witness at a time. We have individual testimony, we don’t have group testimony. Or do we? Is there a chance that when we are hearing from the individual, we are hearing a message that has already been
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By Dr. Shelley Spiecker: ‘Precious resource’ in the energy industry typically refers to a saleable commodity like a coal seam or shale play. Yet when an energy company finds itself in the courtroom, it is not coal nor shale, but industry-friendly jurors that are a ‘precious resource’. I recently spoke at the Rocky Mountain Mineral
Protect Your Precious Resource — Energy Industry-Friendly Jurors Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is a reliable maxim that your voir dire should target the experiences of your panel that bear most closely on your case, because that will be the source of the most relevant attitudes. That seems obvious, but I find that litigators often focus on a level that is more
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – So, let’s say you are BP, and after the Deepwater Horizon spill you are facing several thousand claims in the courtroom. You are potentially more worried by one big claim in the court of public opinion: you’re seen as a bad actor. That perception certainly has less to do with any causal analysis of the failure of
By: Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama followed the common pattern of giving attention and applause lines to nearly every issue on the national agenda. But there was one issue that received no mention at all: climate change. The absence, noted by many commentators, extended even to
Adapt Your Scientific Testimony to Jurors’ Skeptical Ears Read More »