Case Strategy Posts

A recent episode of This American Life, entitled “The Unhappy Deciders,” described a man named Sven’s experience serving on a jury charged with deciding whether a defendant deserved life without parole or the death penalty. There was no doubt about the defendant’s …

Let’s face it, most trials are long and boring, especially in today’s sound bite era where most people’s attention spans no further than the time it takes to read a meme or social media post. Jurors are not used to …

Alternative facts seem to be getting in the way a lot these days. Sean Spicer’s representation that President Trump’s January 20 inauguration audience “…was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” …

One part of our case strategy sessions involves creating an outline of the case narrative. We call this the Case Story, and it typically entails outlining topics that serve as the segments of your overall case presentation. When working with …

The Holy Grail of trial persuasion is to speak to jurors in a manner in which they can adopt an advocate’s or witness’s words, language and themes when they think about the case and deliberate to a verdict. Language shapes …

Recently I had the pleasure of being a guest lecturer at the University of Washington’s Trial Advocacy class, taught by Bill Bailey, Esq., practitioner turned law school educator. The students were bright and engaged. We discussed principles of human and …

The South has Evangelical Christians, the Midwest has Protestant Christians, the Northeast and Southwest have Catholics, and the Pacific Northwest has “nones.” In 2014 the Public Religion Research Institute’s American Values Atlas found that Seattle was tied at second place …

A stock bit of advice that is frequently used by trial consultants is that you have to “tell a story” to be successful in trial.  The mere “stacking of facts” is not enough to successfully persuade a jury to accept …

Mock trials have many benefits. Attorneys hire jury consultants to conduct mock trials to learn (or confirm), among other things, the strengths and weaknesses of a case, the story jurors will adopt when deciding the case, and what questions jurors …

This article by Tsongas Consultant Theodore O. Prosise, Ph.D. and Peter Ehrlichman, Esq. originally appeared on the Inside Counsel website on October 9, 2015. You can access the original here. Additionally, if your firm is interested, Tsongas conducts seminars and CLEs on this and …

I was having lunch on a beautiful spring day with a very smart attorney friend of mine recently. He had a big civil trial coming up that involved having to persuade a jury on some relatively complicated scientific evidence. The …

The presidential political season is upon us! Yay? While one part of me would like to take an extended vacation where there are no TV’s so I can skip the entire thing, another part of me is looking forward to …

If you have spent any amount of time on social media sites like Facebook, you have inevitably seen headlines similar to that of this blog. Other favorites include: “Your Jaw Will Drop at What Happened Next!” and “Tears Will Roll …

Like every state, Oregon is divided in a number of ways: there are the urbanites vs. suburbanites, red counties vs. blue counties, vegans vs. vegetarians vs. carnivores, and finally there are Ducks and Beavers. Right now, as these disparate Oregonians …

Mike ran his fingers through his thinning grey hair. “I have to explain the patent and the claims in opening, or the jury won’t know what our case is about.” “That won’t work,” said Eileen, Mike’s co-counsel, as she shook …

I love sports. But I never have time to watch as many games as I’d like. In fact, I rarely find time to watch any games live, so I have to get my sports fix in other ways. I watch …

My son woke up this morning and said, “Yay! It’s Friday. Hashtag no homework for two days. Hashtag let the weekend begin.” (That’s a direct quote; he actually said the word “hashtag.”) Then my daughter chimed in, “Hashtag crush Lincoln.” …

I didn’t believe it until I saw it myself. It was the 1990s, and I was learning how to apply my graduate school knowledge to the field of trial consulting. I was doing this the way many do, facilitating focus …

There are times when I’m working with clients when I’ll suggest a colorful metaphor as a way of communicating an idea about the case.  Sometimes these suggestions are well-received, and other times an attorney might be reluctant to implement the …

In my experience as a trial consultant, I’ve found that many attorneys have strong opinions on bifurcation — separating liability from damages. The most opinionated litigators on this subject have had their thoughts colored by personal experience; which while valid, …

“As the longest-tenured owners in the NBA, the Sterlings have employed five African-American coaches, scores of African-American players, an African-American general manager who held that job for 22 years and staff….”   I was watching the latest installment of the …

At the time of this blog, it’s been nearly two weeks since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, and the attention paid to this story has grown exponentially over this period of time. I, like most people, find the mystery …

In the 1960s, neuroscientist Paul MacLean posited a model of the human brain consisting of three parts: the reptilian, the paleo-mammalian, and the neo-mammalian.  The “r-complex,” or the reptilian element, which includes the brain stem and the cerebellum, is the oldest part …

It’s only natural to believe that a concept must first be understood before it can be persuasive. A common mistake in the field of litigation is thinking that the trier of fact has to understand “our technology” to find for …