Web-based technology setting next stage for trial prep

Shadow juries: Expensive but insightful tool in the right case

By Sylvia Hsieh
Published: August 20, 2012
Tags: Litigation Support

During a recent med-mal trial in Pennsylvania against two doctors and a hospital over a birth injury, 12 people with similar attributes to the 12 jurors filed in and out of the observation area of the courtroom every time the actual jurors took a break during a recess, lunch break or sidebar conference. The 12 [...]

Redefining expert witness credibility for juries

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: August 14, 2012
Tags: Litigation Support, Practice Tips

Juries routinely dismiss expert testimony due to credibility problems, incomprehensibility, or simply because it is cancelled out by another expert’s testimony. This leads to a number of important questions for the attorney and the expert in presenting testimony at trial. What exactly is credibility? Is an expert an advocate? How objective is an expert supposed [...]

When making a pitch, use ‘micro-scripts’

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: August 15, 2011
Tags: Litigation Support, Practice Tips

Whether pitching services to a potential client or trying to sway a jury, communication is essential for lawyers. The best way to get a message across that will stick with listeners, according to Connecticut-based author and marketer Bill Schley, is by using a short, metaphorical phrase he calls a “micro-script.” “If you tell someone six [...]

What neuroscience says about how jurors use evidence

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: February 14, 2011
Tags: Litigation Support

Winning quarterbacks learn to read defenses, score touchdowns and win games by running hundreds of plays and throwing thousands of passes every year. As with muscular and even intellectual skill, our brains also learn emotions and form our own idiosyncratic pattern of reasoning based on how we grew up and our practiced behaviors. Dr. Antonio [...]