By: Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – For an upcoming opening statement or closing argument, your gestures are probably the last thing on your mind…until you actually get up to speak. Then, the commentator in your brain might be asking, “why am I gripping the sides of this lectern?” or “Is there a way I can […]
Go Ahead and Talk with Your Hands, But Know What You’re Saying Read More »
By: Dr. Ken Broda Bahm For the litigator preparing a witness or working up an opening statement, there is an important question of whether you should just make your own case, or identify and respond to the arguments likely to be offered by the other side. For the witness, should you cover in direct what you expect will be hit on cross,
With Eggs and Arguments, Keep the Sunny Side Up, But Cook Both Sides Read More »
by: Dr. Ken Broda Bahm Sigmund Freud is credited with having said that “analogies prove nothing, but they make us feel right at home.” Among litigators, there are two schools of thought on whether to deploy analogies in the course of legal persuasion. One side argues that the explanatory staying-power of an analogy makes it
Stop Searching for the Perfect Analogy (but Don’t Surrender a Communication Lifesaver) Read More »
by: Dr. Ken Broda Bahm Those of us who are old enough may recall that there was a generation taught to give public speeches using index cards. Those little 3×5 or 4×6 cards would hold all of the main points, supporting bullets, and quotables that one would need to get through the presentation. So what
by: Dr. Ken Broda Bahm Chances are you’ve now heard of “Twitter” in which groups of online friends stay in touch by frequently sending short – 140 character – electronic answers to the question “what are you doing now?” Twitter leapt into the legal consciousness mainly because some users started sending “tweets” reading something like, “I’m sitting
Right-Size Your Message in Trial Read More »