Corporate America in Lean Times -
Do Today's Jurors Have Shallow Sympathy for Deep Pockets?
Do today's economic conditions really pose a heigtened threat to a fair trial for a corporate defendant?  Find out how the current economic climate impacts juror decision-making in Persuasion Strategies' 7th Annual National Juror Survey.  Also learn how increasing juror hardship affects your jury selection and trial strategy, recommendations for using visual media throughout your case, and ways to measure your potential jurors' anti-corporate bias. Read the complete article

“Mea Culpa” in the Courtroom: Apology as a Trial Strategy
In April of 2006, notable media mogul Hugh Hefner apologized to Jessica Alba for the unauthorized use of her photo, prompting the actress to halt pending legal action against Playboy magazine. Just a few years earlier a woman paralyzed in an accident associated with faulty tires on a well-known SUV settled her case for about one third of the $100 million she originally sought. The shift occurred after defense attorneys offered the woman a bedside apology. Similar examples in legal as well as popular news abound, and the legal community has taken notice. Yet, many remain skeptical of apology’s utility, partly because anecdotal evidence like the two stories above has been more available than sound research and evidence supporting apology’s effectiveness, particularly its effectiveness in trial. Can apology really improve trial outcomes? Read the complete article

Want to be a Great Speaker? Then Keep Your Mouth Shut
The key to motivating those with whom you speak is knowing that the filter through which your audience receives what you’re saying is what’s on their worry list du jour. That knowledge demands that you keep your mouth shut more than it’s open. In preparation for your speech, listen. During your speech, listen. And after your speech, listen some more. We all tend to think we listen pretty well already. Do you really? Read the complete article

Great Themes and How to Craft Them
Themes are the stuff of fluff, right? After all, how important can one sentence be amidst the millions of words spoken at trial? Our mock trial research and that of others begs to differ. The best theme won’t save a losing case, but it may well win one that’s sitting on the jury’s fence. The formula for a persuasive case theme in civil litigation always integrates the following critical common denominator concepts. Read the complete article

Are Judges Becoming More Like Jurors?
The short answer—yes they are—and in some important ways. More significantly, judges and jurors are not as far apart as you might expect. The longer answer, detailed in the pages that follow, stems from our nationwide survey of federal judges and jury-eligible adults across the country as well as our ongoing field research with mock judges and mock juries. Judges’ and potential jurors’ answers highlight a number of conclusions that are critical to any attorney choosing the best decision-maker, or doing their best to adapt to either the judicial bench or the jury box. Read the complete article

Getting Beyond The Catchy Phrase and Creating a Trial Theme That Truly Works
By now, the advice to "use a trial theme" is or should be familiar to any practicing litigator. It is intuitive to discover and use a statement that unifies and embraces your view of the entire case. But crafting the right theme involves much more than thinking of a phrase that rolls off the tongue and sticks in the memory. As important as it is for a theme to do both, a theme needs to do more in order to serve the critical function of being that central representation and reference point for decision-makers. Learn how a theme works, what makes a theme effective, and how to use theme throughout your case. Read the complete article

What Is The Real Difference? Arbitration v. Jury Trial
When three highly regarded arbitrators and 14 mock jurors are recruited to evaluate the same case, at the same time, in what ways will their deliberations—and ultimately, their verdict—differ?  Persuasion Strategies began with this premise and designed a mock arbitration and mock jury trial demonstration to discover the real differences between  arbitrators' v. jurors' perceptions and decision-making patterns. The findings are an extension of Persuasion Strategies’ fifth year of National Juror Survey projects in cooperation with Inside Counsel. Read the complete article

To learn more about the data Persuasion Strategies has colllected in connection with this article, click here for an executive summary, or click here for the associated charts.

How to Deal With the Many Types of Anti-Corporate Jurors
Persuasion Strategies consultants, Ken Broda-Bahm and Kevin Boully, describe how juror bias against companies can follow corporations into the courtroom whether as plaintiff or defendant. Less well understood are the different forms that this bias may take and the ways it shapes public perceptions of corporations in the legal system. Read the complete article on Law.com

Mocking Corporate America
Follow four jurors as they participate in a mock trial. Learn corporate defense strategies that persuade jurors to view your case in light of its own unique merits, not on the basis of a more generalized anti-corporate bias. Also, learn how the latest advances in mock trial technology maximize the value of your research. Read the complete article

The Newer Generations in the Jury Box: Who Will Favor Your Cause?
Dr. Karen Lisko recently published an article on generational differences of jurors and why they are more complex in their decision making than their age portrays. Read the complete article

Jurors in Red and Blue America
In ways that are both predictable and surprising, where your jury lives influences what your jury thinks about your corporation's actions, choices and responsibility. Read the complete article

Re-channeling Juror Anger
Anti-corporate bias among jurors has escalated in the wake of corporate governance scandals. Overcoming such bias requires a litigation strategy that counteracts and re-directs juror anger. Read the complete article

Corporate Defense in Skeptical Age: A Model for Crafting Your Message
The juror-eligible population across the country has high demands and low expectations for corporate behavior. This article provides readers with six steps that can be used to create a corporate defense message. Read the complete article

The Influence of Opening Statement/Closing Argument Organizational Strategy on Juror Verdict and Damage Awards
While the power of a “story” presentation dominates jury decision-making, additional techniques enhance the persuasiveness of opening statements and closing arguments. This article examines the influence of the organizational strategy used to structure opening statements and closing arguments on presentation effectiveness in a simulated civil trial. Read the complete article

Locating Anti-Corporate Bias in Your Jurors: Some Dark Clouds and Some Silver Linings
Where do potentially biasing and potentially desensitizing attitudes live among your potential jurors? This article uncovers the attitudinal and demographic factors which are indicative of anticorporate bias and provides important advice of the questions to explore in selecting and analyzing your future jury. Read the complete article

Post-Enron Jury Perceptions and What to Do About Them
In a nationwide survey conducted in February 2003, research finds that a “desensitizing effect” against plaintiffs can frequently occur under certain case conditions, even in light of increased anticorporate sentiment. In the wake of the Enron collapse and other recent corporate scandals, jurors’ views adjust with society over time, whereby they often blame the plaintiff for their naïveté, for not anticipating a bad outcome in the end. Read the complete article

Your Counterfactual Strategy: How You Can Influence Jurors Thoughts About ‘What Might Have Been’
Jurors speculate: they think about what might have been. This “What if….” thinking is not only a common juror activity but is also an activity that is tricky to understand and essential to control. Thinking about how jurors address ‘what if’ questions in analyzing case facts is an important way of getting inside jurors’ process of persuading themselves and others. Read the complete article

The Current Climate for Today’s Nursing Home Defendants
Jurors today recognize that nursing home abuse is a social problem, but they are divided on the issue of causation. This article reveals the current climate for nursing home defendants in today’s litigation landscape and sites specific research findings that suggest jurors’ inherent distrust of corporations and the inherent burden of persuasion for every nursing home defendant. Read the complete article