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Author: Paul Luvera

Luvera practiced plaintiff law 55 years. He is past President of the Inner Circle of Advocates & Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. Member ABOTA, American College of Trial Lawyers, International Academy, International Society of Barristers and the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. Book Luvera on Advocacy available at Trial Guides Publishing Email paul@luvera.org
EVASIVE WITNESSES

EVASIVE WITNESSES

Recently plaintiff’s attorney Rick Friedman shared an article from the defense publication ” For the Defense” published in December 2015 entitled ”Strategies for Responding to Reptile Theory Questions” by John R. Crawford and Benjamin A. Johnson. file:///C:/Users/pnl/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/EEHZ7017/Strategies-for-Responding-to-Reptile-Theory­Questions-compressed.pdf The article is written in response to David Ball and Don C. Keenan’s book Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff’s Revolution.” The authors summarize the concept in the book as: “In brief, the theory calls for convincing jurors that a defendant’s conduct…

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If They Don’t Like You They Won’t Hear You: An Essay on Persuasive Communication

If They Don’t Like You They Won’t Hear You: An Essay on Persuasive Communication

This article was written by Steven E. Perkel, DSW, LCSW from Steven E. Perkel & Associates, LLC. and published in The Jury Expert May 1, 2010. He has given me permission to reprint it in this blog. Twenty-three hundred years ago in Rhetoric, Aristotle wrote that persuasive speech was dependent on three variables: the speaker, the subject matter, and the listener. More specifically, Aristotle taught us that three key issues impact persuasiveness; the character of the speaker or Ethos, the…

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