Don’t Undermine The Value of Your Focus Group

Too often, lawyers ask focus group jurors to deliberate and discuss only the verdict questions. This is a woefully inadequate use of the focus group.
Your Client, Expert and Witness E-Impressions Matter! Manage Them Well

What is written has more weight than what is said. Always. That is why, when something is important, we write it down. That is why, in any courtroom, jurors will believe documents over witness testimony. Unfortunately, clients often forget this, if they even ever stopped to think about it in the first place. And the […]
Watch Those Jurors: Body Language Outdoes the Spoken Word

The courtroom setting is unfamiliar to most prospective jurors as they sit with a group of strangers and are grilled by counsel during voir dire. In addition, potential jurors may respond differently depending on whether they want to be off or on a particular jury. Therefore, their responses may not entirely reflect that person’s “truth.” […]
Help Your Witness Deliver Effective Testimony with Full Sentences

Rare is the witness who isn’t anxious, worried, scared–even terrified–during deposition or cross-examination. Often this leads to a rapid pace of speech. Not only that, but witnesses tend to believe that if they just blurt out their response, they’ll get this dreadful experience over with sooner. Speaking Too Quickly. Now, there’s nothing wrong with speaking […]
Classic Juror Misunderstandings

The brilliant cartoonist, Wiley Miller (“Non Sequitur”), captured the misunderstandings between men and women as few others have. For example, the wife says: “Let’s go shopping.” The husband hears: “Let’s go drain the life force from your body.” The husband says: “Honey, are you almost ready yet?” The wife hears: “Life as we know it […]
Be Good to Your Jurors: Connect the Dots!

Too often, in jury debriefings and in focus groups, jurors complain that the attorneys do not connect their points or evidence to the specifics of the complaint. Furthermore, attorneys rarely fully explain the jury instructions to the jury, tying in those instructions to the attorney’s interpretation of the case. In a classic case, namely the […]
The Eyes Have It: Does Your Witness Know How to Look at Jurors?

Telling your witness to look at the jurors during their testimony without teaching them how to do so can be fatal to your case. A scared, anxious witness may only dare a quick terrified glance mid-sentence at the jurors, which confirms in the jurors’ minds that yes, this witness is surely hiding something. So much […]
Expert Under the Gun of Cross? Multi-sided Response to the Rescue

For your expert witnesses under the gun of cross-examination, usually the most problematic answer is a flat “yes” or “no.” Science holds few absolutes to be true, thus most scientists (which is the majority of your experts) are uncomfortable with an uncategorical “yes” or “no” in response to many of opposing counsel’s questions. Yet opposing […]
The Juror-Engaging Power of Story: Beyond the Individual

Research has demonstrated repeatedly the power of storytelling. Indeed, it’s easy for most attorneys to tell the story of their injured client or the malfunction of a product. Stories of individuals, plaintiff or defense, are also fairly easy to summon. But when it comes to businesses, companies or corporations, lawyers too often forget the power […]
You Need a Timeline!

Timelines are essential to just about any case. I’ve been teased by various attorneys I’ve worked with that I always recommend a timeline, and indeed it’s true. But there is a method to my repeated “You need a timeline!” The movement of events across time is how jurors anchor testimony in their minds. It’s how […]