Trial Consulting Posts

The first minutes of Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic Gladiator was an outstanding example of character development. You knew who Russell Crowe’s Maximus was from the start, and it would set up the struggle between right and wrong as seen through …

This is peril. Not the kind of “mortal peril” the young Weasley children faced from time to time, but the kind of client relations peril that comes with wading, even ever so slightly, into one of the most polarizing issues, …

I “sort of” want you to stop saying that. No! I do want you to stop. Not kind of. Not sort of. I do want you to stop saying “sort of.” “Sort of” appears to have become the vocal filler …

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 …

Many of us at Tsongas are college football fans. Actually, that may be understating the passion some of us feel for our respective alma maters. And since none of us went to Alabama, the college football season usually brings us …

The 2016 election year is the most partisan in recent history. It seems that many voters are so entrenched that some have wondered if one of the most classic forums of democracy, the political debate, might be rendered moot. After …

Originally published in Defense News, Summer 2016 We recently had the pleasure of meeting with a group of female professionals at a roundtable luncheon to discuss the communication issues they felt were keeping them “good” communicators, not “great” communicators. They …

I was listening to an episode of This American Life entitled “Choosing Wrong.” The theme of the show explored the repeated poor choices many of us make when a better choice is available. The podcast featured Alain de Botton describing …

I recently attended a CLE given by a veteran judge about what, in his experience, works and what doesn’t work at court. He spoke about what judges want from lawyers and what he thinks jurors want from lawyers, the latter …

Trial consultants have had a few minutes of fame in our profession’s relatively young history. The O.J. Simpson trial put trial consultants on the public’s radar. Among the media coverage of race, money, and fame, was the role of the …

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 Googling Juror is becoming increasingly important to identify. In the December 2015 issue of The Jury Expert, researchers Alexis Knutson of Tsongas Litigation Consulting with Edie Greene and Robert Durham of University of Colorado Colorado Springs published an article …

I was recently reminded of a conversation I had with two attorneys near the beginning of my career as a baby jury consultant. I was working with a senior partner and an associate on a witness preparation for trial for …

Several high profile criminal cases are currently underway in our country: that of Erath County trial of Eddie Routh, accused of murdering former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield, the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the accused Boston Marathon bomber, …

On the frequent business flights I take around the country, I often strike up a conversation with the person seated next to me on the airplane. I try not to be “that guy” who bugs someone who clearly wants to …

January 18th, 2012. A recent Yale Law Review article documented the rarity of civil trials in the modern American judicial system.  The authors rattled off a series of statistics to illustrate the infrequent occurrence of civil trials, with the number …

January 10th, 2012 We have all heard the laments of days gone by in every field. Old school journalists speak openly about “the old days” when there was “a code.” In litigation, new lawyers who struggle to get experience in …