Neuro Linguistic Programing (NLP) was originated by John Grinder and Richard Bandler in the mid 1970’s. They were searching for similarity of techniques as therapists by studying the methods used by successful theraptist’s in counseling people. They developed from this a series of concepts, tools and procedures. NLP concentrates on how people communicate both internally and to each other. The procedures and concepts are intended to change and improve the process.

The methods are effective. They are the foundation of motivational speaker Tony Robbins (www.tonyrobbins.com)programs who was trained in NLP. By the way, Robbins book Unlimited Power is a gold mine of valid ideas that would benefit every trial lawyer. In this book Robbins describes a variety of NLP techneques. Trial lawyers should investigate such basic NLP concepts as, for example, "mirroring" others and addressing the primary way a person receives information: orally, visually or by feelings. A great deal of information is available on the internet about the subject and I recommend purchasing a book to introduce you to subject. There are lots of good ones to select from. Howard L. Nations is a well known plaintiff trial lawyer in Texas. He has a website with a volume of very helpful information and one of the posts deals with NLP. See http://www.howardnations.com/persuasivejuryarguments/secretsway.html Well known jury consultant Dr. Amy Singer has written an article Jury persuasion in product liability cases which discusses NLP as a tool for trial lawyers. http://www.case-strategy.net/brochures/strategy/Jury%20Persuasion%20in%20Products%20Liability%20Cases.pdf.

One of the somewhat controversial ideas deals with eye movement as revealing what mental process the other person is going through to acquire information. This idea is that the movement of the eyes indicate whether the person is searching their memory for a recalled fact or are creating a story which is really an untruth as well as whether they are using auditory, visual or kenesthetic methods of retrieval. "Visually constructed" images in the diagram below are things being made up whereas "visually remembered" are those facts in one’s memory. Not everyone agrees about the accuracy of this, but here’s a diagram oftheidea:

As you realize, "visual" refers to the things we see. "Auditory" to the things we hear and "kenesthetic to the things we feel (touch, emotiontaste or smell. Whether one finds the above credible or not, NLP has tools whichevery trial lawyer should investigate and use.