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How do you gain and hold a juror’s attention? Use unexpectedness – but be sure that you use the right kind of unexpectedness.

You can use surprise to gain the attention of the juror. You can use mystery to hold the attention of the juror. Surprise is a brief emotional state and it only holds a person’s attention for a little while. Mystery can hold the juror’s attention throughout your entire opening statement.

Surprise

• Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you know that my client is suing the Acme Company for negligence. You probably expect me to tell you about what my client lost. Instead, I want to tell you what the defendant lost. When the defendant chose to be negligent, the defendant lost self-respect, honor and above all, integrity…

Mystery

• When I first started looking at the evidence I kept asking myself, “Why did they do that?” We know the company did not pay my client but I wanted to know why. I am going to spend the rest of my time on this case trying to discover why they stole and I want you to accompany me on this investigation. We may not know until the end but I think that is the mystery that we have to solve.

Putting it all together

Whether you are going to mediation or trial, the best way to organize the facts of your case is to use the story model. When creating your story, you can use unexpectedness to make sure that you gain and hold the attention of the jurors.  This will help you Combine the art of Law…with the Laws of Science.