By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: When it comes to sizing up our potential jurors, we are used to looking at their politics. Both conventional wisdom and practical experience suggest that conservatives are more likely to prioritize individual responsibility while liberals focus on social responsibility. That means that in many cases — not all, but many — political leaning plays a role in how a juror might assign responsibility in a civil case. Increasingly, though, there is a need to look beyond the liberal/conservative binary to see meaningful divisions within the two sides of the spectrum. Particularly among Republicans, there is an

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Here’s one area where there’s a conflict between social science and practical intuitions: Should the civil defendant offer their own damages number to anchor jurors on a lower amount? The social science on the subject is relatively clear: If the jurors get to the point of awarding damages, a lower number from the defense will help keep the award lower than it otherwise would have been. But in practice, defendants can be reluctant to offer that number, fearing that it will look like the defense concedes the point that damages should be awarded, with the alternate

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: After threatening that me might end his musical career if the jury went the other way, popular musician Ed Sheeran can now continue his line of work. According to a federal jury in New York earlier this month, Sheeran’s 2014 song “Thinking Out Loud” did not copy the musical structure of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic, “Let’s Get It On.” As one of the most highly-watched artistic copyright cases in many years, the trial was broadly seen as setting the course for other cases. Sheeran, however, succeeded in convincing the jury that his song was made up of “common building

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: The importance of including graphics when presenting to a judge or jury is understood these days. Still, I think the design and execution of these graphics can be too often treated as an afterthought. Instead of using a timeline as a central and fundamental way of structuring the case for fact-finders, it is developed at the end and treated as a plug-and-play addition to an already-developed trial story. You might create a diagram showing the key case concepts and relationships as a way to visually spruce up the verbal presentation instead of using it as a

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Negligence is supposed to be a determination of action, not intention. Looking only at outward conduct, jurors in a negligence case are typically asked to decide whether an act, or a failure to act, was reasonable, and in line with what reasonable peers would have done in a similar situation. The intention or mental state of the actor is not supposed to matter in that determination. At least, that is what the law says. But among those who study jurors and other decision-makers, there has been a strong suspicion that this ignores a practical reality. Jurors