A new study has stirred up a debate about the effectiveness of showing witnesses videotape of themselves to prepare them for trial. The study, although it wasn’t conducted in the legal context, found that participants who were videotaped were unable to assess certain personality traits based on viewing their own body language. The study concluded [...]
You’ve hired an interpreter for your non-English-speaking client. You begin the conversation with “How are you today?” and it takes the interpreter 30 seconds to come up with how to communicate that – or, conversely, the interpreter speaks for 30 seconds straight. Either way, you should be wondering if you’ve hired the right interpreter. That’s [...]
Plaintiffs’ attorney Jonathan P. Groth recently handled an automobile accident case where his client’s alleged contributory negligence was at issue. Groth did a quick Google search and found the defendant’s public MySpace page, where he had written about how tired and rushed he felt before the accident, even though he had previously insisted he was [...]
Famous horror story: In the first conversation with opposing counsel, after filing a copyright suit against the singer Meatloaf and his record company, the attorney said, “You are making the biggest mistake of your life.” Then, at the deposition of Meatloaf in New York, the attorney found out when Davis’ plane was leaving for Milwaukee [...]
Most trial attorneys have had the experience: dealing with opposing counsel who, for whatever reason, insists on being rude, unaccommodating or just outright nasty. But understanding why lawyers can sometimes be jerks — and knowing how to deal with them when they are — can help keep you from falling prey. Why they do it [...]
