Likeability shouldn’t matter in the courtroom. A lawyer’s
personality should be irrelevant. The facts should be paramount, should be the
only thing jurors attend to, but jurors
are persuaded by a combination of factors: facts are but one of many.
Yes, your likeability matters. Fortunately, this isn’t high
school, and your likeability isn’t based on an indecipherable “cool factor.”
Likeability is based on traits anyone can easily acquire or express. Among
those traits are:
1. Politeness and civility
Jurors appreciate attorneys who are polite and civil with
everyone in the courtroom, from clerk to hostile witness to alternate juror.
2. Appropriate passion
Jurors like attorneys who show zeal for their client’s
cause, without stooping to unwarranted bashing of the other side. Arguing
inconsistencies, strength of evidence and the like are fine. Pointing out
opposing counsel or a witness’s weaknesses is fine. Beating up on opposing
counsel/a witness is not.
3. Clarity
Strange as it may seem, the attorney who provides the
clearest, most to-the-point roadmap through the trial, the clearest,
easiest-to-understand, succinct examination of witnesses, the clearest
description of evidence, and the clearest explanation of jury instructions—is
the attorney who is most liked, and will, in most cases, carry the day.
Master these three traits, and you’ll soon be the
“best-liked” and “most-winning” lawyer in the courthouse!
