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(formerly the Persuasive Litigator blog)

Visual Communication

Remember Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” Plan, and Don’t Forget the Power of a Good Mnemonic

Comprehension, Opening Statement, Visual Communication / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Whatever you think of Republican Presidential contender and former pizza magnate Herman Cain, you’ve got to give him credit for creating a theme using only three digits… and a theme about tax policy, no less.  Mr. Cain has been ascendant recently in the race for the GOP nomination, largely based […]

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Remember in Court, If You’re in View, Then You’re on Stage

Adapting to Jurors, Testifying Effectively, Visual Communication, Witness Preparation / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – During a recent trial, a witness was about to leave the stand as a slip of paper with a question emerged from the jury.  The note was enough to make the examining counsel’s blood run cold, as the juror asked the witness, “Isn’t [your attorney] signalling you on how to answer by nodding his head to indicate ‘yes,’ or ‘no’? 

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Show, Don’t Just Tell: Part 5, Caution (Persuasion Strategies Visual Persuasion Study)

Opening Statement, Visual Communication / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – As we get to the final post in this series, astute readers will have no doubt noticed one claim that we haven’t made:  namely, that graphics will win your case.  By themselves, they won’t.  That is what we found in our experiment focusing on the reactions of 1,375 mock jurors. 

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Show, Don’t Just Tell: Part 4, Centrality (Persuasion Strategies Visual Persuasion Study)

Adapting to Jurors, Visual Communication / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – “I know how to explain it, and I think I even know how to persuade jurors on it — but how do I make it central for them?  How do I make this fact the first thing they remember about this case?” That question, asked recently by an attorney

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Show, Don’t Just Tell: Part 3, Comparison (Persuasion Strategies Visual Persuasion Study)

Adapting to Jurors, Visual Communication / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – We sometimes meet attorneys who want a low-technology approach in trial.  I imagine they see themselves standing in front of the jury saying something like, “well…I’m just a country lawyer and I don’t know much about all these new fangled gadgets – documents flying on the screen, Star Wars animation

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Show, Don’t Just Tell: Part 2, Comprehension (Persuasion Strategies Visual Persuasion Study)

Comprehension, Expert Witnesses, Visual Communication / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – When we think of great attorneys, the skills that we most often cherish are persuasion and logic — the power to get a judge or jury to think and to do what you want.  But what about the ability to inform, to explain, to simply make something clear?   An

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Show, Don’t Just Tell: Part 1, Continuity (Persuasion Strategies Visual Persuasion Study)

Adapting to Jurors, Comprehension, Opening Statement, Visual Communication / /

By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – We all remember “show and tell,” and at least back then we understood intuitively that if we tried to just tell, without showing, we couldn’t expect much attention from the class.  The same applies in litigation, and in a way you might not expect.  This post is the first in a five-part series, reporting

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Go Ahead and Talk with Your Hands, But Know What You’re Saying

Closing Argument, Opening Statement, Visual Communication / /

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

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Choose a “Moving” Way to Convey Evidentiary Data

Adapting to Jurors, Comprehension, Expert Witnesses, Testifying Effectively, Visual Communication / /

By: Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – In litigation it is often true that, “the devil is in the data,” in the sense that numbers and how they’re presented can be extremely important.  In employment cases, jurors often need to grasp the overall percentages that prove or disprove a discrimination claim.  In mass tort pharmaceutical cases, expert

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Remember, Jurors Are Always Forgetting

Adapting to Jurors, Comprehension, Visual Communication / /

By: Dr. Ken Broda Bahm Last week, the trial of Brian David Mitchell came to an abrupt, but temporary, stop in the midst of the defense opening.  The trial team for the man accused of abducting the then 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah in June of 2002, and sexually assaulting her over

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