Communication In The Courtroom From Body Language to Computer Simulation
A great article from Michael Maggiano. Here's an excerpt - Michael is happy to send you the rest as long as 1)You are a Plaintiff's lawyer; and 2)You don't represent insurance companies. His email is listed below:
It was a warm mid-spring afternoon, some 15 years ago. I had just finished a personal injury trial and I was finally feeling the effects of the two-week trial. As I slowly packed up my message and story boards, medical charts and anatomical models, a well-known defense attorney and friend came up to me and asked me to do him a favor. He told me that he was just assigned to this courtroom to commence a personal injury case in which he was defending. He had observed my use of the storyboards, charts and models and complemented me on them. He then told me that he was here on a significant case and was surprised that his adversary had not considered using any visual aids. He asked if I would, as soon as possible, remove my gear so as not to give his adversary any thoughts on the subject. I thought at first he was joking but upon a second look at his expression, I knew he was dead serious. He then remarked to me that he is ever surprised on how few Plaintiff attorneys utilize communication tools to tell the story of their case to jurors in ways that make sense to them.
We trial lawyers prepare like crazy looking for the best experts, researching and reading all the relevant literature, rules, codes, standards, guides and regulations. We comb the universe of knowledge as we arm ourselves like warriors as we enter the arena. We fall in love with our new found skills, knowledge and command of the scientific, technical and medical jargon. By the time we enter the court room we suffer The Curse of Knowledge. We execute incredibly brilliant direct examinations of our experts and cross examination of the opposing hired witnesses. But then we lose the case. What happened? Didn’t they hear us? Sadly, they may have heard you but did not understand the message. The only persons who understood us were the lawyers, experts and perhaps the judge. We traveled through the case at Mach 2, high above the courtroom and beyond the comprehension of those who really matter - our jury.
We all suffer from the Curse of Knowledge
If you want to talk to the jurors you have to first stand in their shoes. To stand in their
shoes we need to first remove our shoes. To remove our shoes we must understand our
curse of knowledge. The medicine, the law and technology is easy for us because we have
learned and lived with it for a couple of years before we get to court. No body should know
your case better than you. But now, what do you do with the knowledge. How does it translate
to what is relevant to your jurors?
You now have to find out what the jurors want to know. What is in it for them that will
capture their interest and move them to your side of the room.
Q. WHAT IS IT THAT JURORS WANT TO KNOW.
For the rest of this article, contact: mmaggiano@maggianolaw.com.
