Don’t Think About a Purple Elephant!
There’s something strange about how our brains work. For some reason, our brains don’t seem to comprehend the word “Don’t” very well. In fact, our brains have the power to completely ignore that single word while still hearing every other word in the statement. It happens on a subconscious level. When we hear the word “Don’t,” we ignore that word and follow the rest of the command. If you’ve ever coached sports, you probably noticed the difference between telling an...
Read MoreThe Trial Lawyer’s Library
When I began my career as a trial lawyer, I had no idea what books I was supposed to read. There were hundreds of thousands of books in my law school library, but I wasn’t sure which ones were most important to developing my trial advocacy skills. I read thousands of thousands of pages, looking for the best trial advocacy tips and techniques, and wasted a lot of time, energy, and money in the process. Hopefully, this list will help you shortcut the process that I went through. In this article,...
Read MoreFree Software for Trial Lawyers
On a budget? Here are some software programs that will help you prepare for your next jury trialand won’t break the bank. Most of these programs work on a variety of platforms, but since I’m a Mac guy, one or two of them might be Mac-only. IMAGE EDITING PROGRAMS GIMP: www.gimp.org Need to crop photos, modify images, or enhance images for trial? This is a cheap (free) alternative to Adobe Photoshop. It includes a wide variety of image editing tools. It’s not...
Read MoreTrial Lawyers: Choose Your Next Word Carefully!
After three years of law school, you’re expected to be a wordsmith. You make your living with words, so it’s important to choose your words carefully when speaking to judges and jurors. You want to avoid words that invoke resistance from jurors, and choose words that make it easy for them to buy. Today you’re going to begin building the vocabulary list for your trial. Your vocabulary list will include the preferred words that you’ll purposely use in trial (because they best tell your...
Read MoreThe Most Dangerous Word in a Trial Lawyer’s Vocabulary
Do you know what the most dangerous word in your vocabulary is? You say it all the time. It’s the most commonly used word in the English language. If you listen to any conversation, especially conversations between lawyers, you’ll hear this word more often than any other. More than any other, this word leads to claims of improper argument and unprofessional conduct. Which word is it? “I.” That’s right – “I.” The shortest word in the dictionary is also the most dangerous. ...
Read MoreResources for Trial Lawyers
