By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Americans finally got to see the redacted report from Independent Counsel Robert Mueller last week. The report on Trump campaign issues relating to Russian election interference raised questions in a great variety of categories, one of those categories being the accuracy of Robert Barr’s summary of that report to Congress […]
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Unlike many other moments in trial, the opening statement is often defined in terms of what it isn’t. It isn’t evidence, and it isn’t argument. So, what is it? It is a preview of what the evidence will be. That creates a conventional practice, reinforced in nearly all trial advocacy
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Your opening statement is a lot of firsts. It’s the first opportunity for your judge or jury to hear the story; the first opportunity to hear a preview of your evidence and argument; the first opportunity to see you on your feet as an advocate for a sustained period of
Open for Business: Top Posts on Opening Statement Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is easy to imagine what you are likely to hear in the first few moments of the defense opening when the case involves a serious injury or death: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, everyone here knows the pain and loss that Ms. Smith has experienced. It is a
Stop Introducing Your Defense Case By Asking Jurors to Set Aside Sympathy Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In anyone’s preparation for an oral presentation of any kind, there is a gap between the time when you know what you want to say, and the time when you’re really ready to get up and say it. During that gap, the greatest imperative is to make yourself comfortable and
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The jurors lean forward in their seats a bit as they have their first chance to hear about the case in opening statement. The attorney steps to the lectern, looks directly at the panel, pauses, raises his hand for emphasis and…reintroduces himself and everyone sitting at counsel table. “You’ve already
Right Out of the Blocks: Make the First Few Minutes Count Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Give me the bite-sized version, break it down into pieces, and tell it to me step-by-step. The brain loves to segment, and the process known as “chunking” seems to be a central part of how we recognize patterns, manage information, and form new insights. A recent perspective on the process
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I have a few pet peeves. Some relate to language (don’t say “literally” when you mean “figuratively,” and don’t say “jive” when you mean “jibe”). Those I can live with. But a larger pet peeve that I have trouble living with relates to demonstrative exhibits in the opening statement. Or, more
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By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When I taught public speaking I’d ask students to picture an experiment. A group of people are being tested on their ability to shoot basketball freethrows, and they’re divided into subgroups (evenly matched on ability) and each subgroup prepares for the test differently. One group prepares by actually practicing with
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Let me start differently in this post, with a ‘Tale of Two Tales.’ Here is tale number one: First, From the Plaintiff’s Perspective: It is January, 2010. Brian Starr, a computer storage engineer on contract for GiganTech Industries has come up with a rough design for the UltraDrive, a radical
Overlap Your Stories Read More »