Persuasive Litigator

Theme Your Skeptics

by: Dr. Karen Lisko

Good trial attorneys often make the classic error of designing a theme around the way they see their own case rather than around the manner in which the more skeptical audience on the jury might see it. Plaintiff’s counsel should put energy into designing a theme that is persuasive to pro-defense jurors while defense counsel should aim toward pro-plaintiff jurors.  Why?  Because jurors who are in your own camp need the persuasive element of a powerful theme far less than your skeptics do.  Speak to your skeptics and you will go a long way toward winning them over. 

Right-Size Your Message in Trial

 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 on a jury..” or “we’re about to reach a verdict!”  As I wrote this essay, at least 15 individuals were tweeting during their jury duty in various parts of the country.  But the need to discourage this kind of juror broadcasting isn’t the only relevance that Twitter holds for the trial lawyer. 

 

The other point of relevance is the size of the message itself.