Friday, February 2, 2018

Motive Matters to the Success of Your Case - Always




Whether or not you believe motive is important to your case, motive is everything to jurors. In the absence of your attributing motive, the jurors will do so, and the motive they assign may not be favorable to your client.

This is particularly true in business cases, where the human heart may not seem to play as large a part. For example, a case involving copyright infringement, fraud, or breach of contract, may lead the attorney to focus too narrowly on the legal issues. They forget to bring to light the bigger human picture, yet that is the picture the jurors will focus on: Why was the copyright issued in the first place? Who invented the whatever, what did it mean to them, to their business, their life? How did these other people come to be involved? What’s the story of their connection, their hopes and dreams when they entered the relationship? Why did it fall apart? Why, why, why is a question the jurors will ask over and over.

When you answer these more human questions for the jurors, your case – and your client – become a living, breathing matter of importance to the jurors. It appeals to their hearts and minds in a way that allows them to care. Jurors must care about your client, about your interpretation of the facts, if you are to prevail. Giving them motive goes a long way towards helping jurors care.

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