In this installment of the series on managing Dismissive and Bully attorneys, we describe additional actions that do not work or that contribute to dysfunctional relationships with opposing attorneys. It is drawn from interviews with more than 40 attorneys.
Read moreManaging Your Dismissive and Bully Peers, Part 5: More on Enraging the Tiger
This is the fourth part of the series, and here we discuss actions based on interviews with 40 attorneys that have proven not to work in dealing with dismissive or bully opposing counsel and, in fact, contribute to fueling discord and frustration.
Read moreManaging Your Dismissive and Bully Peers, Part 4: Enraging the Tiger
In this third part of the series, we describe additional techniques and tools, based on interviews with forty attorneys, which have proven effective in managing dismissive and bully opposing counsel.
Read moreManaging Your Dismissive and Bully Peers, Part 3: More on Caging the Tiger
In the first part of this series, we helped identified common traits associated with difficult opposing counsel. In this part we introduce effective tools to deal with such counsel, based on interviews with forty attorneys.
Read moreManaging Your Dismissive and Bully Peers, Part 2: Caging the Tiger
Attorney-to-attorney interactions often are a battleground of skill, knowledge and personalities. It is the personality component that can lead to the same dysfunctional relationship between the attorneys that the parties experience with each other. This is the first in a series entitled Managing Dismissive and Bully Attorneys. The series explores these sometimes explosive relationships and provides effective tools for attorneys to manage the most difficult and possibly high conflict personality opposing attorney.
Read moreManaging Your Dismissive and Bully Peers, Part 1: Warning Signs
A mock trial, also referred to as a focus group, is a process where information about a lawsuit is provided to a group of “mock jurors” in order to provide a better understanding of how jurors will view the lawsuit. This information can prove extremely valuable in understanding your case strengths and weaknesses and developing case themes and easily digestible analogies. Not only can it help you prepare the best possible way to communicate to a jury it can also help you favorably settle cases prior to trial.
Read moreUsing Mock Trials to Improve Verdict and Settlement Results
Trial lawyers are consistently tasked with building the best potential jury during voir dire. While they are typically adept at the voir dire fact-gather process to ferret out bias, many trial attorneys I have spoken with consistently struggle with evaluating potential jurors that lack such factual bias. It can certainly be difficult to assess how someone thinks and how they will relate to other jurors, particularly in the typically frenetic voir dire settings. However, clinical psychology can provide attorneys helpful guidance in making quick, insightful voir dire juror assessments even where no factual bias is uncovered.
Read moreUsing Personality Theory to Improve Juror Evaluation in Voir Dire