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
We all know by now there were errors in the pre-election polls. While Joe Biden still scored a decisive win, there wasn’t the dramatic margin that many polls predicted. Part of the problem is that the task of sampling the...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
It is becoming axiomatic that you can’t talk people out of hardened views. Particularly on political subjects; the common view is that we are in a “post-persuasion” era. Perhaps that depressing assumption explains why I was...more
From readers of this blog, I sometimes hear, “I don’t always agree with you, but I always find you worth reading.” That is one of my favorite compliments, because of, and not despite, the disagreement. It wouldn’t be that...more
Earlier this week, I wrote about winning and losing with dignity. For this post, I want to take a closer look at the potential flip side of that. In the days since the close state elections reached an apparently clear result...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
On the eve of the final voting day in the 2020 election, it feels like the calm before the storm. As divided as Americans are in these times, there are a few beliefs that everyone seems to share...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 obvious that we live in a time of extraordinary polarization, and we are in the midst of an election that is bringing that schism into even starker contrast. Red and blue Americans differ in our demographics, our...more
Well, Wednesday’s Vice Presidential debate was more civil than the top-of-the-card match last week. It offered a more substantive comparison of positions, with the candidates on both sides looking mature, reasonable, and even...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
Here is a scenario that might be playing out in various forms around the country: A judge looks at her increasingly crowded docket during the coronavirus pandemic and thinks, “Well, I’m doing professional meetings on Zoom...more
Attorneys know the feeling: With some of your witnesses, you just want to keep it simple, encourage them to keep their heads down, and limit the possible damage. With any luck, they’ll get through it with minimal damage to...more
When preparing a witness, there can sometimes be a strong impulse to say, “Just answer the question.” That impulse comes from an appropriate desire to keep things simple, and to keep the witness from wandering or waffling....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
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