In my ongoing research of what jurors think and how they decide cases, I read umpteen blogs, tweets and more authored by those who have served. Even though the original “CSI” television show and its many offshoots are long past (well, mostly), the “CSI effect” is remarkably enduring. One would do well to pay more attention to it. Simply put,
Our world has become a ‘world-in-pictures’ with virtually everything translated into a visual format, or at the very least, accompanied by an icon or picture of some related sort. Given this reality, litigators have been encouraged to create visuals and graphics to support the presentation of their case, to the maximum allowed by the Court.All this is well and
You would think that potential jurors, knowing full well that their written juror questionnaires will be scrutinized by the lawyers on both sides, if not also by trial consultants and other professionals, would respond to written queries the same as they do to oral voir dire. Certainly the same as jurors would respond to Your Honor at sidebar or
First impressions are tremendously powerful. It takes less than a minute for you or your witnesses, to establish a credible first impression with the jurors, one which, once established, will be very difficult to change or alter in any way.Credibility is founded on trustworthiness. And those we trust display more trustworthy behaviors: more head nods, more eye contact, more
Most cases don’t settle, or are very challenging to settle, and end up in trial because there are grey areas in the case – situations or testimony which can be interpreted in different ways. Computer animation is often thought of as an effective, albeit expensive, way to show events. Research tells us, however, that there is a much more compelling
The words you use in framing your question will encourage witnesses to think and respond differently. This can be critical to how your case unfolds. For example, in a study in which a group of people were asked to estimate a basketball player’s height, when asked “How tall is he?” subjects answered on average, “79 inches.” When asked, “How short
Companies that thrive no matter what are companies who truly appreciate their employees Successful companies create a culture where employee feedback is encouraged, rewarded, implemented, and acknowledged. In today’s business world, individual preference matters, so leaders should pay more attention to what their employees want.
People were asked, in a classic experiment, to watch a short video in which six individuals, of which three wore white shirts and three wore black shirts, passed basketballs around. The people were asked to count the number of passes made by the individuals in white shirts. At some point, a gorilla strolled into the middle of the
Jurors are told by the Judge not to research anything having to do with the trial, which is fine–except when a juror finds themselves bumped off the panel by a Judge for daring to look up a legal term in the dictionary. Which has happened, probably more than once.What is wrong with this picture? Why should a juror be
A disturbing comment I hear repeatedly in jury debriefings and focus groups is 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, and worse – fail to tie in those instructions to the attorney’s interpretation of the case.This leaves jurors in the
