Two Books on Building Cases
In a recent discussion, Kenn Suggs recommended the following books:
- The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making by Scott Plous
- Legal Blame by Neil Feigenstein
Ken’s not only a past President of AAJ, but also a helluva trial lawyer. So when he takes the time to give advice, I listen. My copies of those books just arrived from Amazon and I’ll write more about them as I read them.
Thanks for the tip, Ken.
Legal Blame is a great book. When you read it, you will say, "Hey, this is what my instincts have been telling me for years." The basic premise is that jurors will be on your side if you can prove that the defendant is some how a "bad actor" violating "societal norms." In "non-standard cases" it is sometimes easier to find "bad actions" to which a jury might say "I would never do that, it is wrong." It is a bit more challenging in the "normal" car wreck case where the juror might reasonably conclude, "hey, I almost rear ended someone, and I'd hate to pay $100,000 for someone with a pre-existing condition." The trick, it seems, is to not only find the societal norm violation, but present it in a way that avoids the fundamental attributional error (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error). The book "Polarizing the Case" is the must read companion to "Legal Blame", I think.
Chris Nichols
www.NCTrialLawBlog.com
www.NicholsTrialLaw.com
