The skills required for success include competence , dynamism , and trustworthiness . To achieve the requisite trustworthiness , lawyers must fortify their words currently with hard evidence , and avoid the sins of overtrying the case , overloading with irrelevant rhetoric and evidence , and overreaching on damages . Try the case you have , not the case you wish you had .
Trial Science recognizes the significance of jurors liking the Plaintiff . To this end , the Plaintiff must be projected in a light that reflects empathy and courage rather than sympathy . The damages trial story must be told in a way that causes the jurors to identify and empathize with the plight of the Plaintiff , and that creates admiration for the courageous way the Plaintiff is confronting his devastating injuries . A Plaintiff who shows a jury that he is following doctor ’ s orders , cooperating with health care providers , and making every effort to recover , will gain empathy and a desire to help from jurors . Ideally , the Plaintiff will have his own plan for fighting the daily impact of the disease on his life . Jurors often ask , “ what is the Plaintiff doing for himself ?” before they consider what they can do to help . A Plaintiff who is implementing his own plan to fight off the ravages of the disease will be well received by jurors who want to help .
The most effective method to inform the jury of the attributes that make the Plaintiff both in need of and worthy of their help is through the telling of a simple and coherent trial story .
In 2011 , Daniel Kahneman published his magnum opus on judgment and decision-making , Thinking , Fast and Slow , for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics . The book is the long-awaited tome on Trial Science .
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