Estate Litigation 2003


Course Date: October 17, 2003

Course Agenda ▼

Morning

The Basis of Understanding: How Jurors, Judges, Witnesses, and Lawyers Learn and Recall Information

  • factual, emotional, and false memory
  • right and left brain distinctions
  • three important memory principles
  • memory and ethics in preparing your client
  • reconstructing memory
  • learning from the world’s best memory

Communication: The Instrument of Persuasion

  • what you say is often not what they hear
  • three levels of communication
  • communicating credibility
  • selecting appropriate vocabulary

The Decision Process

  • judge or jury—placing your influence where it works
  • how bias, reason, and memory are used to decide
  • jury research on the decision process

Lunch (on your own)

Afternoon

Arguments: How to Construct Arguments That Persuade

  • common errors in constructing arguments
  • locating weaknesses in your opponent’s arguments
  • structuring testimony and arguments

Persuasion: Combining Memory, Decision Theory, Communication Principles, and Arguments to Get the Best Results

  • persuading with the opening statement
  • the psychological basis of persuasion
  • three rules of persuasion

Practical Applications

  • trials, oral arguments, negotiations, briefs, and other persuasive settings
  • “Kissing the Blarney Stone”—how to make sure you use persuasion principles