Build Juror-Compelling Stories: Use the “Boy Meets Girl” Formula

Facts are boring. Stories are riveting. Facts put jurors to sleep. Stories keep them awake. Facts are essential to the case; stories are what make those facts persuasive. Each case has a story to tell no matter how apparently dry or complex the case may be.

At this point, plaintiff lawyers usually chortle with glee, they’re all about story! Except when the case is about eminent domain, or the intricacies of a business contract. They then grumble that business and contract cases lack the excitement of a story. For that matter, defense lawyers have the same complaint when it comes to business cases and more. Too often, defense lawyers complain that their side doesn't have a story to tell. This is false. A lawsuit is first about people, and it is the people side of a lawsuit that engages jurors.

A story doesn’t have to be long. In fact, long-winded stories are almost as frustrating to jurors as no story at all. A story encompasses your theme and gives the major points of the case. Preferably three points. That’s really all you need. Challenge yourself to finding your case’s story and then reducing it to the quintessential “Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.” A beginning, middle and end. Preferably with your client cast as the hero.

Short, sweet, and to the point; that’s effective Courtroom story-telling!

Connect to Jurors With the Specificity of “Who”

You must connect with jurors if they are to find you convincing and persuasive. One of the prime often most neglected ways to connect effectively with jurors is to get them up to speed with the “Who” in the case early on. Jurors feel disconnected when they can’t readily figure out who’s doing what to whom and why that should matter.

Use organizational charts and other visuals that vividly illustrate the flow of communication or authority from one party to the other. Symbolize the relevance of each party to the case by using icons or other graphic devices. Remind jurors of those relationships from time to time as your case proceeds (i.e., "Is it your testimony that Mr. Smith, Ann Jones's boss, went on to say…”).

Be sure to use full names of persons, entities or objects throughout the case. As repetitious it may seem, complete references are vital. Use of pronouns or abbreviated references to important entities or objects is confusing to jurors. Jurors often have trouble just keeping track of who did what to whom. They will be totally lost if they must also concentrate on which "he," "she," or "it" the lawyer is now referring to. Certainly, well-known abbreviations are acceptable, but generally speaking, abbreviations used too often only serve to confuse jurors, and a confused juror is an unsympathetic, disconnected juror.

This you cannot afford, if you are to win your case.

Handle Your Challenging CEO Client Successfully with “Yes, and”

Successful CEOs, entrepreneurs and surgeons (among others) can be difficult clients. Their very success misleads them too often into believing they know everything about how to be successful in their legal matter. Which usually involves their wanting you to do something entirely different from what you know to be the best approach to handling their case, or themselves as witnesses.

The temptation is to say, “Look, I don’t tell you what to do in your field, don’t tell me what to do in mine.” That may work with some clients, but it’s good to remember that many powerful individuals have an underlying fear of being exposed as powerless. It does not advance your work with the client to aggravate that fear.

Instead, use the “Yes, and” approach, which basically consists of the following:

1. Don't wave aside the client's arguments. Treat your client's analyses and suggestions with respect.

2. Then, go on to recommending/doing whatever you think is best. 

For example, “I appreciate that you want me to call Ms. Jones as a live witness, and I think our most successful strategy is to use her declaration.”

Notice, it’s not “I appreciate that you want me to call Ms. Jones as a live witness, but I think our most successful strategy is to use her declaration,” nor is it “I think our most successful strategy is to use her declaration instead.” You make no attempt to defend, rebut or otherwise resist your client’s perspective, you acknowledge it respectfully, and then go ahead with what you believe is the best course of action.