How to be Effective in Jury Selection: Be Respectful and Personable

“You will attract more bears with honey than with vinegar.” It may be a cliche, but it is nevertheless true. During voir dire you should always be respectful of a potential juror’s opinion, no matter how much you might disagree with it. Moreover, thank potential jurors who disagree with your position for sharing their opinions. … Read More

How to be Effective During Jury Selection: Access the Reptilian Brain

The fourth tip that I want to blog about in this series of posts concerning the voir dire process at trial concerns what is called “the reptilian brain”. Recent research has been performed concerning the reptilian brain and David Ball spoke on the subject at the 2008 American Association of Justice (AAJ) Winter Convention. The … Read More

Jury Selction Trick: “Attitude” vs “Influence”

I stumbled across a trick a few years ago at a continuing legal education (CLE) class that summarized what we all do instinctively and I wanted to share it with you in this third installment of my voir dire tips blog series. Here is the trick that was articulated for us all at the CLE: … Read More

“Open and Obvious” Conditions and Unreasonable Danger in Premises Liability

Instructing Potential Jurors about Open and Obvious Conditions An “open and obvious” condition is not a total bar to recovery in premises liability cases because to hold so would interfere with the purpose of comparative negligence statute. Indeed, the “open and obvious” defense is in fact the dfense of assumption of the risk. The law notwithstanding, this … Read More

Street Racing-Reckless Driving

In the state of Oregon reckless driving is defined as ” willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others.” Oregon has a specific statute for a kind of reckless driving that is very dangerous, street racing. Statute 4511.251 states that when 2 cars start at the same point on a public road and speed … Read More