by Ken Lopez
Founder & CEO
A2L Consulting 

Not every article we publish in The Litigation Consulting Report is destined for glory. Some are widely circulated throughout the legal industry via social media and get read by thousands.

Yet others, whether because of content, publishing time, holiday schedules or other factors, get read by relatively few people.

This article is designed to highlight 7 previously published articles that I consider "diamonds in the rough" that somehow I'm guessing you overlooked. 

1. The effects of anxiety on a trial team. Anyone who knows me well in business has probably heard me say that the theories of Wilfred Bion are the most important I've ever studied. As the person who introduced me to Bion says, "It just explains everything." Time and time again I've watched, usually helplessly, as members of a trial team become agitated under pressure and step through Bion's predicted behaviors like actors in a tragedy. This article is will introduce Bion's group dynamics model in the context of a trial team.

2. 10 Video Tips for Litigators. We published an article with this video back in January and as of this writing, only 313 people have had a chance to watch it. I think these tips are very useful for litigators and paralegals alike and want to highlight it again. The video features tips from three consultants at A2L Consulting, including yours truly.

3. What happens when many members of a trial team try to design litigation graphics together. As this article was published on a Friday afternoon, it understandably did not get a lot of attention. I believe that the way a trial team goes about agreeing on proposed litigation graphics is important - and many teams do this differently. Some approaches do indeed work better than others. We provide our recommended approach for trial teams in this article.

4. Learn about how mind-mapping can have a dramatic effect on your litigation strategy. We first wrote about mind-mapping for litigators back in March of 2011, and since then we have created dozens of mind-maps for trial teams in cases throughout the country. We've learned that a printed mind-map can be an important strategy tool for the trial team and that electronic versions just do not have the same impact unless you regularly use mind-mapping software. This article introduces mind-mapping and provides a link for a free download of a sample mind-map.

5. Focus on both building a case and on presenting a case early. My colleague, a patent litigator and litigation consultant, called this approach to trial preparation a two-track approach. In this article he encourages litigators to focus on both approaches well before trial. Unfortunately, we see too many trial teams doing last minute trial prep and forgetting to focus on how to explain a case to a judge or jury. This article makes the case that you can't win without a good approach on both tracks.

6. Applying the lessons taught by author (and attorney) Dan Pink to litigation. I am a huge fan of Dan Pink's work and was lucky enough to have my company mentioned in one of his books. His 2005 work predicting the transition to a "conceptual economy" has proved remarkably accurate with fewer and fewer skilled people being employed to do basic tasks (e.g. cashiers, document reviewers, etc.). In this article, I share the theories discussed in Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind and relate the concepts of Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play & Meaning to litigation. If you have not read Dan's work on what motivates people, it is also a must-read for anyone in a leadership position at a law firm.

7. Embrace an unlimited budget approach to trial preparation even when you don't have a good trial budget. Understandably, in these budget-constrained times, our articles with tips for saving money while conducting mock trials, preparing litigation graphics or using on-site courtroom technicians get read dramatically more than articles like this one describing a no-holds-barred bet-the-company approach to trial. However, regardless of budget, I think it is better know what is a best practice and to try to follow as many tips as one's budget will allow.