Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips

Eric Oliver is a nationally known jury and communications consultant at his company Metasystems in Detroit. He publishes  News from the Mental Edge which I enjoy reading for the many ideas it offers. Here are some miscellaneous thoughts from the last issue. Eric suggests that “harm, fairness, community (or group loyalty), authority and purity are the “primary colors” of our moral sense. He suggests forming our position around them. For example, the rule: “it’s wrong to needlessly injure people” involves the…

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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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