Browsed by
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
THE MAGIC OF WRITING ON PAPER, RE-FRAMING OBJECTIONS & JOINING THE JURY TRIBE

THE MAGIC OF WRITING ON PAPER, RE-FRAMING OBJECTIONS & JOINING THE JURY TRIBE

Comments 1 comment

Today I am reviewing a collection of trial materials that I have collected over the years and which I began by storing in indexed notebooks long before the start of the digital age. Here are three examples. WRITING ON PAPER When I first began the practice of law court rooms were virtually devoid of any visual aids, no paper and not even a blackboard. In fact, a blackboard was considered a unique device to use in a trial and one…

Read More Read More

BETRAYAL, NOT MISTAKE, IS THE ESSENTIAL MESSAGE FOR WINNING NEGLIGENCE CASES

BETRAYAL, NOT MISTAKE, IS THE ESSENTIAL MESSAGE FOR WINNING NEGLIGENCE CASES

Comments 0 Comment

I have written frequently about the importance of a message of betrayal in negligence cases, especially medical malpractice. But, I continually see lawyers presenting their cases as a mistake. They present a case involving an error, a mistake or a negligent act and then expect the jury to follow the law. But, jurors are driven by their value systems irrespective of the jury instructions. When a case of negligence is tried to a jury of conservative people, too often the…

Read More Read More

JURY SELECTION AND THEME IDEAS FROM ERIC OLIVER

JURY SELECTION AND THEME IDEAS FROM ERIC OLIVER

Comments 0 Comment

Eric Oliver is a long time friend and a very experienced jury consultant. http://www.eric-oliver.com/  He wrote an article about communications  “Heard Mentality.” Some of the observations Eric made are important to remember in our practice and are summarized below: Jurors begin their understanding of our story with a theme. We all make sense of case stories by starting at the most general level and working down to details. A theme provides a general direction. If you do not provide a…

Read More Read More