When it comes to understanding jurors, each case an attorney tries presents a whole new set of unknowns. What do these jurors think about local employers, large corporations, or pharmaceutical safety? How do jurors in, say, the Central District of… Read More
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What Trial Graphics Belong in My Closing Arguments?
Imagine this: The jury has just sat through two weeks of endless testimony with duplicative questions and answers throughout. You put together an excellent opening statement slide deck. You used effective video deposition clips and transcript pages to cross-examine your witnesses. You… Read More
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Is a Shadow Jury Worth the Risk?
Attorneys seem to be using the shadow jury (also called a “feedback jury” or “mirror jury”) less in recent years than they used to. And that’s too bad. Especially when the perceived risks of the technique are being given undue weight, scaring some clients away from one of the most vital… Read More
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How to Use Counterfactuals to Combat (or Leverage) Jurors’ Hindsight Bias
Faced with the large amount of complex information being presented to them in trial, jurors will inevitably use “heuristics” – mental shortcuts – to help them keep up. Sometimes, these shortcuts lead to perfectly reasonable judgments. Other times, they create distorted perceptions and erroneous conclusions. One problematic heuristic is known as Hindsight Bias, or… Read More
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Does Humor Have a Place in the Courtroom?
Humor is a funny thing. A joke that works so well out of one person’s mouth can crash and burn out of another’s. That same joke can cause hysterical laughter in one situation and groans of annoyance or gasps of affront in another. Content, person, delivery, circumstance, audience – it’s a tough… Read More
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How to Choose the Best Witness Prep Consultant
To process the extensive, complex, and often unfamiliar information heard in trial, jurors tend to rely on heuristics (mental shortcuts) to reduce their cognitive load and draw conclusions more quickly. Not all of these heuristics are problematic for your case, but some can certainly lead to hasty assumptions and false judgments. And unfortunately, assessing… Read More
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4 Major Defense Weaknesses in Health & Safety Products Liability – Part 3
No sugar-coating it: the defense weaknesses we discussed in Part 2 are dangerous. If you don’t have solid, convincing responses to them, you’re looking at significant challenges for your case outcome. Finding the best solutions will, as always, depend on the specifics of your case. However, because plaintiffs’ main arguments… Read More
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4 Major Defense Weaknesses in Health & Safety Products Liability – Part 2
Now that we’ve covered how jurors tend to think about health and safety products liability cases (Part 1), let’s examine the 4 common plaintiff themes that can cause major trouble for the defense: 1. You Favored Profits Over People This argument tends to… Read More
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4 Major Defense Weaknesses in Health & Safety Products Liability – Part 1
When it comes to medical and safety products liability, the defense is inherently at risk. While we’ve basically seen it all from plaintiffs, where human safety is concerned, a defendant tends to be vulnerable to a common set of plaintiff arguments. But under the circumstances, in some ways this is actually good news. At… Read More