Plaintiffs: Stop Whining To Win Over Jurors

PRLog (Press Release) - Apr. 19, 2010 - LOS ANGELES, CALIF.--For plaintiff attorneys, your key witness is usually your client or a client’s representative. How that witness describes the wrongs allegedly inflicted by the defense can have an unintended adverse effect on jurors, says Dr. Noelle Nelson, a trial consultant for more than 20 years for both plaintiff and defense.
   "It may seem perfectly understandable for the plaintiff as the witness to complain with a whole litany of  'he/she/they done me wrong'," says Nelson. "Why else would your client be there in the first place? But to juror ears, an unending stream of complaints sounds a lot like whining, and jurors typically don’t like whiners."
   What do jurors prefer? "Plaintiffs who, despite their misfortunes, are valiant, are giving it their best shot to overcome adversity," explains Nelson. "This doesn’t mean your plaintiff clients must develop a stiff upper lip and through gritted teeth maintain 'All is well,' but rather that you make sure during direct that you expose the ways in which your clients did the best they could to survive, heal or improve things despite horrendous odds. That's what impresses jurors. Now you have a potential winner in juror eyes, not a loser-whiner."
   For more trial techniques, go to Nelson's blog, "A Winning Tip," http://awinningtip.blogspot.com, or for her articles and books, http://www.noellenelson.com/Trial_Consulting.cfm.