I saw an add by Ken Hardison for PILMMA, a marketing firm for lawyers, that made a whole lot of sense to me if I were advertising. As I thought about it, it occurred to me the same fourteen principles outlined in the advertisement really apply to trials. Here are the principles: 1. Who is your target audience? When we try cases we need to think about who are jurors are and what they want or expect. He says: “research…
Over the past 25 or 30 years my policy was to reject confidentiality as an imposed condition of settlement. Our settlement agreement memorandum contained the following language: “Neither the plaintiff nor his or her attorneys agree to any secrecy confidentiality restrictions regarding any aspect of this case or settlement. It is understood that nothing shall be considered secret or confidential regarding this case or settlement.” Over the years I have been questioned regarding this policy not just by defense attorneys…
We are back from Europe and while suffering from jet leg here are some thoughts you might want to consider. Jurors construct their own story out of the evidence they are given, evaluate that story and then select an outcome that best fits their version of the facts. They apply their own values as well as their perception of the community attitudes in coming to their decision. “Your group’s values are threatened by actions like this. You or your loved…