Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips

My law partner Joel Cunningham and I recently spent the day conducting focus studies of two cases we are involved in. In addition to the helpful information we received, I was once again struck by how consistent certain principles are regarding human behavior. Over all of my years as a trial lawyer and in conducting numerous focus studies, well-known principles are continually verified. Here are the most fundamental principles we saw people demonstrate during our focus study. 1. Once people…

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More than thirty years ago a friend of mine iintroduced me to the book Influence by Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D. (1984). This book has become a classic for those in the field of sales and anyone else dealing with people generally. I have recommended it as  required reading for trial lawyers for years. This is not a complex book. There are only six basic principles which Cialdini lists as basic social and psychological principles that form the foundation for persuasion. The most…

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When I was two years old, Dale Carnegie published his book How to Win Friends and Influence People. It has remained a classic on human nature and is still popular today. One of his chapters dealt with the fact that people never blame themselves even when they are clearly wrong. One of his examples involved "Two Gun Crowley" a killer who was finally trapped by the police in his girl friend’s apartment in 1931. Surrounded by police Crowley carried on…

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