Dennis Elias’s Latest Tweet :. Injustice News Twitter Feed :.Mark Bennett | August 25, 2009
We lawyers are analytical creatures. The LSAT doesn’t include a section of intuition puzzles. So Simple Rule 8 for Better Jury Selection is The Shrink (as in therapist) Rule: Rule 8: How Do You Feel About That? Jurors decide cases based on their guts, then look for intellectual reasons to support their emotional decisions. As [...]
Mark Bennett | August 25, 2009
Rule 7, also from improvisational theatre: Don’t block. In improv, blocking is when you take another actor’s idea, and negate it: “It sure is quiet here on the moon.”“No, this is the bottom of the sea.” Your partner looks bad, and you’ve killed a scene. In improv, if your partner says you’re on the moon, [...]
Mark Bennett | August 25, 2009
Rules 6 and 7 are timely, since they come from improvisational theatre and I just got back from four days of intensive improv training at BATS (I highly recommend the training). Rule 6: No scripts. I’ve written about voir dire scripts before. You’re not going to get very much information if you walk the jury [...]
Mark Bennett | August 21, 2009
Okay, those of you who identify themselves as “attorneys” and “Esquires”, and anyone else who likes people to know that he has a law degree and is therefore superior: listen up. This one is for you. The fifth Simple Rule for Better Jury Selection is blatantly stolen from and therefore named in honor of Chicago [...]
Mark Bennett | August 14, 2009
We lawyers love to hear ourselves talk. That can be the death of a jury selection. In a good voir dire, the jurors do most of the talking. Even if I can’t hear what the lawyer and jurors are saying, I can tell a good voir dire from a bad one by listening, as long [...]
Mark Bennett | August 14, 2009
They are once again on their way. They are walking through the forest. Shrek belches. DONKEY Shrek! SHREK What? It’s a compliment. Better out than in, I always say. (laughs) DONKEY Well, it’s no way to behave in front of a princess. Fiona belches Thence, Rule 3 of the Simple Rules for Better Jury Selection: [...]
Mark Bennett | August 11, 2009
Jury consultant Dennis Elias (@JuryVox) twitted: At opening statement you have no standing with the jury. Don’t tell them what the evidence will show; story them the evidence. Break that down into a rule (tell the jury the story of the evidence) and a reason (because you have no standing with the jury). The reason [...]
Mark Bennett | August 5, 2009
You may not have noticed this, but people don’t like lawyers very much. Or rather, they don’t like people acting like lawyers very much. Once they get to know them, they like the human beings behind the label just fine, but it’s not the jurors’ job to go behind the label, and if you define [...]
Mark Bennett | July 31, 2009
Rule 1 of my Simple Rules for Better Jury Selection is the Nike Rule: Just do it. It’s not a very sexy rule, so I won’t lead off with it when I’m speaking in Waco in September (I’ll probably put it at the end for the few faithful who stick around); I’ll give you Rule [...]
Mark Bennett | July 25, 2009
An evolving list: Rule Zero The Nike Rule. The First Blind Date Rule. The Shrek Rule. The 90/10 Rule. MacCarthy’s Bar Rule. Improv Rule I. Improv Rule II. The Shrink Rule. The Beer Pong Rule. The Marathon Rule. The Playing Doctor Rule. The Field Trip Rule. The Undertow Rule. The Atticus Finch Rule. The Bat [...]
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