Your hands shake. Your voice trembles. Your face reddens. We’ve all been there, having to give a presentation in front of people and fighting back the nerves that come along with it. Whether in front of your peers or in front of a jury or judge, public speaking is a high-stress situation. And testifying in […] The post How Body Language Can Impact Witness Credibility appeared first on Litigation Insights.
We may have left 2017 behind, but let’s not forget some of our favorite blogs! We wanted to take one last look back on what our readers and clients found most helpful in 2017. While some of the blogs listed below were the most read articles in the last year (but may have been published […] The post Top Ten Litigation Insights Blogs of 2017 appeared first on Litigation Insights.
“All the world’s a stage,” as they say; and apparently, that includes the courtroom. From my countless post-trial interviews with jurors, I’ve come to the conclusion that jurors are always watching you – not just to see if you’re a good lawyer, but to see if you’re a good person. Thus, it is important for […] The post How Important Is Attorney Etiquette in the Courtroom? appeared first on Litigation Insights.
“This is a very important case, and by being a juror on a case like this, you’re taking on a pretty big role; you’re basically a guardian of the community. You’re the ones that get to be the decider about when things are wrong or when they’re right, or when some change needs to happen. […] The post How Can the Defense Use the “Reptile Approach” Against Plaintiffs? appeared first on Litigation Insights.
When presented with a witness who speaks English as a Second Language (ESL), it is difficult to predict how they will be perceived by a jury. In a previous post, we examined the challenges of identifying juror bias against foreign witnesses, but that raises a separate, yet related issue as to whether that witness is […] The post Should an ESL Witness Testify Through an Interpreter? appeared first on Litigation Insights.
We once had a client come to us with an expert witness who needed some serious prep work. He was a great guy, very approachable, and extremely knowledgeable about his industry. As it turned out, however, he had major problems with short-term memory and would buckle under cross because he couldn’t remember basic details related to the […] The post How to Make Sure Your Expert Witness Isn’t a Lemon appeared first on Litigation Insights.
To say that America has a complicated relationship with “foreignness” would no doubt be an understatement. After all, the vast majority of us have relatives or ancestors who immigrated to the United States at some point in time (I, myself, am a first-generation citizen). Yet, there remains a great deal of political controversy and social tension between Americans and the foreign born (or […] The post Are Jurors Biased Against Foreign Witnesses? appeared first on Litigation Insights.
Weaving words together to create pictures in the minds of jurors – true storytelling – has long been the foundation of successful trial lawyers. But why stop with words alone? Adding actual images to a presentation further enhances jurors’ ability to understand and remember case themes. These images can resonate across age, gender, beliefs, and individual […] The post Storytelling in the Age of Emojis appeared first on Litigation Insights.
In my career, I have never seen jurors give a witness in a mock trial as low an evaluation score (1.3 out of 7) as one witness we encountered named Tim. In fact, one of my fellow consultants on the project confessed, “I once worked on a case that involved [an accused] child molester. The […] The post What Should I Do When My Witness Wants to Outsmart Opposing Counsel? appeared first on Litigation Insights.
While a variety of factors are up in the air during trial that can boost costs, that won’t stop most clients from asking counsel to forecast their budgets. It’s a reasonable request, but not always an easy one to fulfill. When it comes to outside costs, trial graphics and on-site trial support are two areas where budgets are […] The post 8 Tips For Preparing On-Site Trial Support Budgets appeared first on Litigation Insights.