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As a trial attorney you probably know that if you argue ten points, when the jury goes to deliberate, they won’t recall most of your points. On the other hand, if you argue a few points, jurors will recall those points and carry them into the jury room.

The challenge to the trial attorney is to keep the message simple.  Simple messages win out over complex messages. However, being simple is not simple. There is an elusive elegance to simplicity.  To appreciate the elegance of a simple message, consider this formula:

Simple = Core + Compact

Core

Simple does not mean dumbing down or using sound bites. Rather, simple means finding the core of the idea. As a  trial attorney, you might want to switch hats and play newspaper reporter. Newspaper reporters are taught to start their stories with the most important information. The first sentence in a newspaper article is called a lead. To find the core, or lead, to your case, ask yourself these two questions:

If a juror remembers nothing else about this law suit, I want the juror to remember _____

The single, most important thing that the juror must know about the evidence is _______

Compact

If you want the jurors to remember your message, you must make your message compact.  Two ways to compact your message are proverbs and analogies.

• Proverb: There are so many proverbs you can rest assured that there is one that would fit the message you want jurors to remember. For example, in a bad faith insurance tort, you might use the proverb, “Where there is smoke, there is fire.”  This proverb will give jurors the expectation that indirect evidence of bad faith points to the negligence of the defendant.
• Analogy: Analogies make it possible to understand a compact message because analogies are based upon concepts that the juror already has, e.g., “The company who hurt my client is like a mill stone that thoughtlessly and recklessly crushed anything in its path.”

Putting it all together

Whether you are going to mediation or trial, you have a much better chance of prevailing if you message is simple.  This will help you Combine the art of Law…with the laws of Science.