We know that perceptions of facts can be filtered by a strong partisan lens. Differing narratives regarding the recent election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have brought that into sharp relief. While a majority of Americans...more
Q: At the time you signed the contract, did you believe that all of your business partners had the capacity to comply with its terms?
A: Well, here is what was going on when I signed the contract: The business was growing...more
Many Republicans believe that President Trump lost the election only due to widespread and systemic voter fraud. When Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, a Trump voter and donor, says that Democrat...more
All the way back to my days as a public speaking professor and debate coach, I stressed the practical importance of a transition. The goal, I emphasized, is not just the formal nicety of appearing organized, but is rather to...more
Looking at the question, “What does a federal judge expect from an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA)?” U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon of the District of Oregon, in a recent issue of the DOJ Journal of...more
In the current wave of this pandemic year, as many trials and in-person jury research projects are on hold, the social science research has continued. I’m thankful for that, and for this post, I want to appreciate a new study...more
When it comes to presentation style in the courtroom, there are definitely times to “bring the fire.” Impassioned rhetoric is best used sparingly, and after you have gained your audience’s trust, but when it fits, powerful...more
After a tense few days of states counting votes while the public kept refreshing the CNN map, the 2020 Presidential Election has finally been called. And at least in the initial aftermath, we have seen starkly different...more
Trial lawyers work in words: language that is precise, economical, and influential. Those words are the water that litigators swim in, and for that reason, the absence of words can be a little uncomfortable. That can be an...more
10/29/2020
/ Closing Arguments ,
Cross Examination ,
Defense Strategies ,
Eyewitness Testimony ,
Juror ,
Jury Trial ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Opening Statements ,
Trial Practice Guidance ,
Trial Preparation ,
Voir Dire
A couple of months ago, I helped to run the Online Courtroom Project’s demonstration jury trial using Zoom. Like a number of other experiments and actual trials going forward across the country, jurors showed up via laptop...more
These are stressful times, and there are many reasons to expect that your jury pool in the near future is going to be a little stressed out. In the article, “The Pandemic Juror,” (Wilson 2020) a University of Tennessee law...more
The Reptile approach of trying plaintiffs’ cases by framing them in terms of personal safety is no longer a new idea. Plaintiffs’ attorneys are also less likely to treat that approach as a cure-all in every trial. But the...more
It has been a tough year for science. On the social-science front, it seems that we have entered a phase where no one believes the polls. To conservative Trump supporters, the consensus of data showing the President well...more
It is worth remembering: The reasons that we have enforceable rules for a courtroom is to avoid the spectacle that Americans witnessed in the first Presidential debate this year. Commentators across the political spectrum...more
So Donald Trump now has the coronavirus. As of press time for this blog post, he is fighting the illness from the Presidential Suite at Walter Reed Medical Center. It is news that struck many as both surprising and...more
For trial lawyers, there is a great deal of lore on the kinds of jurors you would want for particular cases. While some attorneys will focus on traits like gender, age, or occupation, the smarter course, in my view, is to...more
There’s something that judges will often tell potential jurors at the start of the voir dire process: “We know jury duty is an inconvenience, but it is a necessary duty.” But what if it is more than an inconvenience? What if...more
Ms. Gray, if you were selected for this jury, do you believe that your experiences or views would bias you in any way against my client?
There is a predictable answer from Ms. Gray: No, I would not be biased, or I feel...more
Across the country, restaurants are changing what it means to be a restaurant, movie theaters are changing what it means to be a movie theater, and conferences are changing what it means to be a conference. So maybe it’s...more
9/16/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Judicial Proceedings ,
Juror ,
Jury Trial ,
LegalZoom ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Masks ,
Popular ,
Social Distancing ,
Trial Attorneys ,
Videoconference ,
Virtual Litigation ,
Witness Statements
Recently, I heard about an in-person mock trial during the pandemic conducted by another consultant outside our group. At the beginning of the day, this consultant said, the jurors and the attorneys attending were all pretty...more
“You would agree with me, wouldn’t you doctor, that a physician should never needlessly endanger his patient, right?”
That is a recommended question, probably the main recommended question to plaintiff attorneys who are...more
We are, of course, still in the midst of the pandemic, and if the question is, “How are people feeling about that?” there is not just one answer. There isn’t even a good answer that can be accurately expressed as an average....more
As of press time for this post, 173,094 Americans have died from the novel coronavirus. If the United States had followed the example of other developed countries by taking earlier and more decisive actions against the virus,...more
Society changes: leaders come and go, the economy goes up and down, wars start and end, and now, medical emergencies arrive and (hopefully soon) depart. But through all of that, for the 12 years we’ve measured it, one thing...more
8/20/2020
/ Amazon ,
Bias ,
Defense Strategies ,
Insurance Industry ,
Juror ,
Jury Selection ,
Jury Trial ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Switzerland ,
Wal-Mart
As our court system looks at the possibilities for trials under the current pandemic conditions, it seems like we face a choice: Restart trials in person, with distance, disinfectants, masks, and barriers; or move the process...more