In this episode, we explore how focus group clips can be used as tools in mediations. Specifically, I’m sharing five simple things that we can do as plaintiff's lawyers to help our mediations, as presented by a loved and respected mediator on both sides of the aisle.

Learn about virtual versus in-person mediations and strategies for client preparation, such as sending a demand before the mediation. The episode also covers negotiation styles and risk ranges on a case, as well as how to effectively use focus group clips in mediation. With the growing prevalence of virtual mediations, you’re also going to pick up some valuable tips for navigating this format and achieving successful outcomes.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Virtual mediations vs. in-person mediations
• Ways to prepare your client for the mediation
• Sending a demand before the mediation
• Negotiation styles (ex. positional bargaining and principled negotiation)
• The ranges of risk on a case
• How to use focus group clips for mediation

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Supporting Resources:

If you have questions or a particularly challenging client preparation, email Elizabeth directly for assistance: [email protected].

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

When we're preparing a client for testimony, whether for deposition or trial, there are basic concepts you need to keep in mind. As trial lawyers, we could be so engulfed in a lot of things that sometimes, we need to step back and look at things from a ground-level perspective. 

In this episode, I’m going to discuss these three basic concepts: teaching, communication, and timing. We’re going to touch on the power of visuals, the things that go into preparing for deposition, and how one-on-one meetings can help clients understand what they’re asking. We want to make sure that we nail down some of these concepts before we get into content.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Teaching: Use of visual aids, writing vs. reading
• The value in creating a timeline
• Understanding people’s learning styles:  auditory, visual, or combined
• Using legal and medical terms
• Keeping clients from information overload or TMI
• Communication: Primacy and recency
• Timing: When to start and repetition

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We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

If you have questions or a particularly challenging client preparation, email Elizabeth directly for assistance: [email protected].

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

Don't skip out on measuring the credibility of your witnesses and seeing the power of influence that they have over the decision-makers in your case. And one of the best ways to do that is through witness clips. 

In this episode, we discuss the importance and the usability of witness clips in a focus group. Through witness preparation, you can create a more effective focus group by giving your client a better understanding of how they are perceived by outsiders. Witness clips can help them identify areas where they need to improve their credibility and provide insights into how they can present themselves better in a focus group setting.

Let’s dive in and learn how the use of witness clips is an essential component of witness preparation so you can help make your focus group more effective and efficient. By being properly prepared, your client can make the most out of their participation in the focus group and ultimately provide you with more valuable insights into your research.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Witness preparation is key.
• The importance of keeping a clear mind
• Understanding the value and power of witness testimony
• Why start using video clips in focus groups

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet. 

We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

If you have questions or a particularly challenging client preparation, email Elizabeth directly for assistance: [email protected].

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

When you're going to get ready for trial, and you're building your team to help you pick a jury, you don't actually need a lot of people. Perhaps one to three people would suffice. Building a small group will help things become more structured for you. That being said, you’ve got to pick people that match up with your ideology on picking a jury altogether. Then let them in on what would help you best as a lawyer.

In this episode, I’m sharing my recent experience of helping a fellow lawyer pick a jury. They wanted my perspective as a female trial lawyer so I decided to show up. There were a couple of things that happened on the fly that I’m going to share here, which are things you may want to consider as you’re building your own team for jury selection. 

In this episode, you will hear:

• A strategy that worked well
• Different ways of taking notes
• Things to consider when you’re building a team
• The benefits of taking notes and having notetakers
• Why you want to only build a small group

Subscribe and Review

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We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

If you have questions or a particularly challenging client preparation, email Elizabeth directly for assistance: [email protected].

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

None of us are smart enough for our audience to even remember anything we've ever said. They're not going to remember anything, but they will remember how we made them feel. Hence, having that sixth sense is what separates great attorneys from the not-so-great.

While you’ll never be able to figure jurors out, you can always at least get a better idea of what is going right and what is going wrong in the cases you’re handling. If you're interviewing and you want to have a positive result in anything, you should have some background or understanding of that audience. 

In today’s discussion, I’m joined by Lucas Foust to talk all about focus groups, the different focus groups they’re using, and how using them has become a valuable resource.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Their process of running focus groups
• The value of figuring out your hits
• The power of using videos in focus groups
• The benefits of running virtual focus groups
• The impact of using checklists
• Valuable time vs. busy work

Subscribe and Review

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We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

Lucas Foust

[email protected] 

Website: https://www.lucasfoustlaw.com/

www.rev.com 

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

Many successful attorneys learned to be successful by being louder and stronger. And for women, being louder and stronger doesn't necessarily mean success. Sometimes louder and stronger means aggressive and shrill. 

In today's episode, Rena Cook joins us to talk about how she helps women attorneys command a great deal of authority and strength without being shrill, and how you, too, can improve your voice as a trial lawyer.

Rena Cook is a TEDx speaker, author, trainer, coach, and the founder of Vocal Authority, a training consultancy serving corporate clients – attorneys, politicians, teachers, sales teams, and CEOs – who want to use their voices in more commanding and authentic ways. 

Rena is the author of Empower Your Voice: For Women in Business, Politics, and Life; Her Voice in Law published by the ABA; and Voice and the Young Actor, used in drama programs throughout the US and the UK. She co-edited Breath in Action: The Art of Breath in Vocal and Holistic Practice. Rena taught high school drama for 16 years before she graduated to higher education. 

For the next two decades, she taught professionally bound actors, many of whom can be seen on Broadway, film, and television. Through Vocal Authority, Rena adapts actor training techniques to help individuals and groups be more confident and dynamic communicators. 

In this episode, you will hear:

• Breathing deeply to keep the brain engaged
• The importance of the last word of sentences
• Techniques using breath and space to improve your voice
• The power of change and variety
• Common mistakes people make with their voice
• How to plan out your movement on transitions

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet. 

We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

Rena Cook

Email: [email protected] 

Website: www.myvocalauthority.com 

Book: Her Voice in Law Purchase here

If you have questions or a particularly challenging client preparation, email Elizabeth directly for assistance: [email protected].

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

One of the most effective ways lawyers and other businesses can reach their audience is through podcasting. But without the right tools, the right people, and a clear purpose as to why you’re doing this, it can be so easy to get overwhelmed and lose focus on why you started the podcast in the first place.

Joining us today is podcast producer Danny Ozment and he talks all about podcasting – the benefits of having a podcast, how you can maximize your content, and some strategies to make sure you’re able to produce content consistently. 

As a business owner himself, Danny is aware that he can’t do everything on his own, otherwise his business is never going to grow. And so, he has been advocating for people to do the same, regardless of the industry they’re in.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Reasons many podcasts don’t make it past 15 episodes
• How to deal with a creativity block
• What is ordinary to you is magic to someone else.
• The value of repurposing content and how it works
• Tools you can use to help you with repurposing content
• How podcasting can help you with the trust factor
• The power of niching down your podcast to a specific audience

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

If you have questions or a particularly challenging client preparation, email Elizabeth directly for assistance: [email protected].

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

As trial lawyers, we can't be stagnant. People change, cultures change, our jurors change, and how they process information changes. And so, as trial lawyers, our profession is one where we have to keep working on it until we decide we're done.

Joining today's episode are Patricia Kuendig and Tanya Ortega to talk all about cross-exam – the importance of sequencing your cross-examination chapters, the basic structure of a cross-exam, and how to deal with objectors. They also share the value of a game plan with your cross-exam, which allows you to be much more organized and quicker. 

They also talk about women empowerment and how they're creating a collaborative community of women trial lawyers, because there's so much comfort in knowing that you're not alone. Hopefully, these women can tap into the magic that they can create in the courtroom, which is also very different from their male counterparts. As women lawyers, there's something that we can bring to trials and to our practice, that men cannot. And so, we need to harness that, live the truth, and be the future of the practice.

Patricia has a diverse practice in almost every field, helping a lot of folks all over the country. Whereas Tanya does a lot of Personal Injury cases and Trust Litigation. She also handles Personal Injury, with a specialty in brain injuries.

In this episode, you will hear:

• The importance of sequencing your cross-examination chapters
• How to keep your tone in focus groups
• Advice on how to deal with super objectors
• Collaborating with other women attorneys
• How to put together a cross-examination

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet. 

We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

If you are interested in attending the September 28 - Oct 1, 2023 cross-exam workshop “She Crosses” please email Patricia or Tanya directly. 

Patricia Kuendig

Email: [email protected]

Learn more: https://www.doddandkuendig.com/our-attorneys/patricia-kuendig/ 

Tanya Ortega

Email: [email protected]

Learn more: https://theortegafirm.com/

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

Jury selection: either trial lawyers hate it – or love it. Although many trial lawyers are afraid of it, jury selection never gets old. You will be getting different stories, different personalities, and different answers each time. But it takes a lot of practice to get better at it. The skills required for it are learned, practiced, and honed for hours and hours.

Today’s guest, Laurie Koller, a practicing lawyer for 31 years now, shares her experiences doing jury selection and the things she loves about it the most. 

Laurie talks about the importance of running focus groups in jury selection as well as the benefits of hiring a voice coach. She also talks about the book that she co-wrote with Rena Cook, called Her Voice in Law, which teaches vocal technique, especially for women in the courtroom.

In this episode, you will hear:

• What it was like going through the pandemic in Oklahoma
• Her experience working with David Ball
• The benefits of getting a voice coach
• The importance of having awareness of time
• Tips for running focus groups in jury selection
• What you can do to get better at jury selection

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet. 

We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

Laurie Koller

[email protected] 

https://kollertriallaw.com/about-koller-trial-law/ 

Her Voice in Law by Laurie Koller and Rena Cook

https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/393310705/ 

Rena Cook https://myvocalauthority.com/about/ 

Lexlee Overton https://mindoverlaw.com/about/ 

Theater for Trial by David Ball and Joshua Karton https://www.trialguides.com/collections/books/products/theater-for-trial

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.

Creating opening statements is one of the common problems we see as trial lawyers. Opening statements are the first look that the jurors have at the case. Naturally, you would talk to them about principles and circumstances, and maybe some rules in jury selection. But a lot of times, once we get to the opening statement, it can get long and drawn out.

In this episode, I’m going to talk about some questions you need to ask yourself as you’re fine-tuning your opening statement, to make sure you get your message across to the jurors without leaving them all confused and frustrated. 

In this episode, you will hear:

• The “mousetrap” opening statement
• Understanding the depth of information, knowledge, or experience of the jurors with the facts and circumstances of the case
• Checking how many times you’re repeating things
• The importance of identifying your strongest points

Subscribe and Review

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We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

For a more detailed analysis of the Mouse Trap opening Statement check out this blog: https://larricklawfirm.com/avoiding-the-mouse-trap-opening-statement/

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.