Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips

The September 2019 King County bar bulletin featured an article by Thomas M. O’Toole, PhD, who is a jury consultant at www.soundjuryconsulting.com. Dr. O’Toole writes about a research studies in the article. One study was done at Duke University. Students were offered two samples of beer. Both were Budweiser, but the students were told that one beer was a standard commercial beer and the other was called “MIT brew.” Unknown to participants this beer had been treated with drops of…

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In psychology there is a principal known as the “Dunning – Kruger effect.” It refers to the psychological phenomenon which leads people to overestimate their ability because they have failed to grasp how much they really don’t know about the subject. They think they are well-informed and understand when in fact they don’t fully understand. People, lawyers in particular, too quickly believe, that as intelligent people, they have fully grasped a new concept which has been presented to them. Often,…

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Throughout a 57-year legal career from which he never fully retired, Francis Hare’s unique approach to his profession left a permanent impact on the system of justice he so faithfully served. Mr. Hare was a nationally known plaintiff’s trial lawyer from Alabama who wrote a book in 1976. The book had a passage on the subject of pain-and-suffering which has been quoted over the years. There are some concepts about arguing pain that are still compelling after all the years…

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