Actor Kirk Douglas has written his ninth book Let’s Face It age 90 years. It is an entertaining book. One thing he wrote struck me as a lesson for trial lawyers. He says when he gives a speech he always starts out telling the audience he has had a stroke. As a result, he tells them, he has to speak slowly to be understood. However, he goes on, he’s found that when he does speak slowly people listen because they…
Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was born in Florence in 1469 and became a figure of the Italian Renaissance. His writings included political theory and he wrote a pamphlet The Prince which he hoped would help him gain influence with the ruling Medici family of Florence. The well known writing has a chapter he titled "Cruelty and Compassion. Whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse." Here is a sampling of his answer. He advised that…
The National Law Journal (June 16, 2008) in an article by reporter Tresa Baldas, reports an increasing number of cases where judges restrict the use of certain words in criminal prosecutions. The article Hot-button words are iced in court says that a steadily increasing number of courts across the United States are prohibiting witnesses and victims from saying certain words in front of the jury such as "rape" or "victim" or even "crime scene." In white collar criminal cases words…