Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips

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…

Read More Read More

I’ve studied communication principles for my entire trial lawyer career. The truth is that because human nature doesn’t change the fundamentals have remained unchanged for hundreds of years. Technology has brought new ideas for good communication, but we humans still process communication in the same way. Here is an outline of some of the basic fundamentals of good communication Professor Albert Mehrabian at UCLA conducted a well known study regarding how people receive information. [TR1] He is known for his pioneering…

Read More Read More

During the time of presidential debates, NPR had a program “Secrets of Winning the Presidential Debates.” It consisted of ideas and recommendations from political advisors and those skilled in public speaking. Some of the advice include the following ideas: develop a list of three items you MUST say in the debate. Have it in front of you. Use it as a checklist before each answer you give. Try to fit it into more than one answer. In giving responses keep…

Read More Read More