Jury Decision Making
Getting Back to Basics in Trial Planning
Imagine you are asked to build something – you don’t know if it’s a car, a house, a playground, or any of the other endless
Jill Schmid, Ph.D.
September 5, 2023
Jury Decision Making
The “Poverty of Attention” at Trial
On a recent Armchair Expert podcast, host Dax Shepard paraphrased a quote by Herbert Simon, the gist being “…a wealth of information creates a poverty
Jill Schmid, Ph.D.
January 30, 2023
Jury Selection
Is a “Fair and Impartial” Jury Even Possible?
A favorite client sent me this link with this message, “Wouldn’t this be a fun case to work on!” Jury Selection in the Trump Organization
Jill Schmid, Ph.D.
November 7, 2022
Jury Psychology
A Practical Example of Teaching Science Through Narrative at Trial
One of my favorite non-fiction books of all time is Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. The book tackles every major branch of
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
October 14, 2021
Jury Decision Making
The Importance of Narrowing Your Arguments at Trial
One of the most important components of jury strategy development is also the one that is talked about the least and that is momentum in
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
July 1, 2021
Jury Decision Making
Making the Damn Feather Weigh More: Reframing Common Burden of Proof Arguments By Plaintiffs
“If you end up saying to yourself, I just don’t know, but it might be, then we’ve met our burden.” While I’ve listened to both
Jill Schmid, Ph.D.
June 1, 2021
Jury Decision Making
Reptile or Rules of the Road: Why do Some Cases Go Nuclear?
Why do some cases go nuclear while other cases with similar fact patterns or injuries do not? Every jury is different of course, but that
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
May 4, 2021
Jury Psychology
Implications of Facebook’s Famous Emotional Manipulation Experiment
In January 2012, Facebook conducted a controversial one-week experiment with approximately 700,000 users in order to determine how the Facebook news feed influenced the emotional
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
March 10, 2021
Jury Decision Making
Zoom Glitches and Delays Are a Much Bigger Deal Than You Thought
We have all experienced the glitches and minor delays that come with videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom. No matter how good the internet connection, they
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
December 9, 2020
Jury Decision Making
Smarter Jurors Might Not Be The Answer You Are Looking For
In all of my days working predominantly for the defense in civil cases, my clients have openly longed for “intelligent” jurors who they believed would
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
September 22, 2020
Jury Psychology
Understanding Heightened Juror Emotions During the Pandemic
Traumatic national events, like the COVID-19 pandemic elicit a broad range of emotions in potential jurors. Jurors, like all of us, worry about the safety
Scott Herndon, M.A.
June 16, 2020
Economics
The Causes of Social Inflation and “Nuclear” Jury Verdicts
Last year, Johnson & Johnson was hit with an $8 billion verdict by a Philadelphia jury, an amount that exceeded the gross domestic product of
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
February 12, 2020
Coping with Egocentric Jury Decision-Making
By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. We quickly learned that Richard was a horrible juror for us in the trucking accident case we were working on.
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
July 11, 2019
Ease over Accuracy: Why “Yeah, but…” Defense Tend to Fail
By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. The “law of least effort” is an important principle for understanding jury decision-making. In short, if there are several ways
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
December 4, 2018
The Jurors Hated It, But It Worked
By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. An important lesson I have learned from observing jurors’ decision-making in mock trials is that jurors sometimes dislike strategies that
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
August 6, 2018
Dissecting the “Broken Rule” Strategy Used by Plaintiffs
By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. One of the most popular strategies used and advocated by many plaintiff’s attorneys across the country is the “broken rule”
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
February 13, 2018
Why Jurors Often Fail to Understand What’s Important…Even When It’s Obvious
By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. Before you read any further, watch the above 1 minute and 41 second video, which will provide incredible insights into
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
January 10, 2018
Do You Know What Question Your Jurors are Really Answering in Deliberations?
By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. In his 2011 book Thinking Fast and Slow, famed psychologist and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman wrote this in his
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
December 4, 2017
Think of it as “Mock Deliberations” Instead of a Mock Trial
By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. I had a very interesting experience recently on a case in New York. While we had worked with the client
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
November 28, 2017
The Sniper Defense 003 – The Podcast Playbook for Defense Attorneys
In episode 3, I discuss the common psychological processes at play as jurors attempt to make sense of all of the information presented at trial,
Thomas O'Toole, Ph.D.
February 4, 2016
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