We are living through a particularly difficult time for science. My colleague, Jill, has written in the past about the challenges of persuading juries in a post-trust/post-fact ecosystem. The politicization of fact is creating a notable backlash against expertise. Nowhere is this challenge more pronounced for trial teams than in cases that rely on scientific and technical data. This post-trust/post-fact ecosystem presents a serious threat to our ability to come to accurate conclusions that require someunderstanding of scientific or technical information. A 2017 National Academies Press study cuts to the core of the issue, noting that only 16% of Americans

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the impact of emotional economy on juror decision-making. Research tells us that the emotional state of jurors has distinct impacts on the way they process and apply evidence and testimony at trial. We also know that in times of a national crisis, like the one we are currently experiencing with the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s emotional states are heightened and amplified. What this means is that you can gain a distinct advantage at trial by understanding how emotional states impact cognition, decision-making, perception of evidence, and your client. Effective plaintiffs can win massive damage

By Scott Herndon, M.A. When I joined Sound Jury Consulting 5 years ago, I entered with a unique background – I am a college debate coach. College debate is a high-speed, research-oriented, game of words that operates a little like verbal chess. Teams present and apply arguments about complex public policy questions to persuade a judge they have the best idea, and thus win the debate. As I settled into my role with Sound Jury Consulting, I realized the skills I’d honed as a debate coach for two decades were immediately applicable to my work as a trial consultant. While