by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting If you can win the battle of opening statements, you'll likely win your trial. Up to eighty-percent of jurors will make up their minds about your case during opening statements. In this webinar you'll learn the top-five ways to maximize persuasiveness during opening statements. From how to tell compelling stories to visually supporting your key arguments, this one-hour will reveal the best secrets from courtroom persuasion experts. Ryan H. Flax, Esq., A2L's Managing Director of Litigation Consulting is an accomplished litigator who helps trial teams perfect their trial story and trial presentation using the latest persuasion science. Even if you can't make it to the live event, you'll receive access to the recorded version just for registering.
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting We East Coasters have a love-hate relationship with snow, and the snow moving into the Northeast today may be one for the record books - particularly around Boston. It will dominate the news for days - and it probably should. An incredibly large number of people will be impacted by this particular storm. Under or next to that red line on the map where the storm is forecast to hit, you'll find roughly 20% of the U.S. population living on roughly 3% of the country's land, half of the hedge funds, one third of the headquarters of Fortune 500 firms and — in the states under the red line, about 35% of the country's and, hard as it may be to believe, about 25% of the world's lawyers! A blizzard disrupts our lives. It can feel tedious, it creates confusion, and it generates a lot of hard work — sort of like a trial. Not all trials are blizzard-like, but some surely are. Here are 21 ways some trials are like a blizzard and how to avoid white-out conditions in your courtroom.
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting A successful trial lawyer is one who is able to persuade a jury or judge of the truth of his or her client’s case. In order to do that, a lawyer must connect with people on an emotional level. The only way to do that is to tell a compelling story. Stories are the way in which people learn and the way in which they organize reality. Law school may prepare lawyers to build a case around the law, but it doesn’t teach the science or art of persuasion. Sitting in a jury and analyzing evidence is likely one of the most complex things a juror will ever do, so you need to make it easier for them and as entertaining as possible. You need to hook them early and keep them engaged.
by Elise Jefferson, MA A2L Consulting An intriguing and complex aspect of civil litigation is the use of damage awards as a means of achieving justice. This remains an inexact science; no one can predict the amount of money that a jury is going to award the plaintiff if liability is found. However, a good deal that is worth knowing has been learned about what goes into that decision. For example, studies have examined damage awards when jurors are asked to award a specific amount, as well as how jurors’ perceptions of the plaintiff’s motives for suing can affect damage awards. Although it can be difficult to predict how much money a jury may award, it is still important to consider the various theories that attempt to explain what influences jurors when determining damages. Following are four theories that reflect the current state of the art.
Twenty years ago in my trial advocacy class, we talked a lot about developing a theme for a case. We learned to say things in an opening statement like, "this is a simple case about right and wrong" or "no good deed goes unpunished."
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting I frequently help lawyers craft presentations – whether it’s the opening statement of a litigator, a pitch presentation for a law firm, or a seminar presentation for a corporate lawyer. And I too am often called upon to speak at events or even off the cuff to a group. After a good bit of trial and error, I have found two nearly foolproof ways of organizing any of these talks that I use almost invariably, whatever the context may be. The great thing about these models is that you can use them in an off-the-cuff speech just as well as you can in a highly scripted presentation. Whether it's the courtroom or your kid's school, these models work wonders. You will come off as inspiring, not just informative. You will appear confident. You will also be seen as following modern presentation styles – the spoken equivalent of using an electronic presentation versus using transparent overhead slides.
by Ken Lopez Founder & CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder & CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder & CEO A2L Consulting
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