Twelve Heroes, One Voice: Guiding Jurors to Courageous Verdicts

An innovative, creative work that will help every lawyer better represent her client in the courtroom.

Carl Bettinger’s book Twelve Heroes, One Voice is essential for trial lawyers who want to learn how to truly connect with jurors and empower them to have the courage to provide justice for their clients.

Before I was halfway through the first read (there will be many return visits to this book) I was excitedly trying out what I’d learned so far.

Carl integrated Homer and Cervantes with popular cinema to help us understand how to tell a story, the importance of juror empowerment, and the importance of self-empowerment.

A triumph. Once upon a time, I was losing hope that there were ways to win at trial other than by playing off juror’s fears and biases. Playing the hero, Mr. Bettinger has restored my faith.

Every courtroom lawyer has one book that he or she reaches for in order to prepare for the next major trial. This is the book I will reach for from now on.

Carl gives you what the Reptile left out. Learn why fear is not the end all and be all. Carl shows you how mentorship of the jury, earning their trust and empowering them will lead to heroic plaintiff’s verdicts even in these times.

Carl Bettinger is an outstanding trial lawyer and creative thinker who has authored one of the best books ever written on trial advocacy, Twelve Heroes, One Voice.

Twelve Heroes, One Voice brings to light how the hero-villain-mentor relationship between the jury and lawyer can be examined and illuminated in-depth. Carl explains how to reach justice alongside the jury. No tricks, no illusions, no slight of hand—just the plain, simple truth.

Twelve Heroes, One Voice is the best book I have read about the fundamentals of storytelling as they apply in the courtroom. It is clear, practical and filled with real-life examples. If you want to learn how to empower jurors, you need to read this book.

This book provides the magic sword and armor to transform jurors from ordinary people into heroes and sheroes empowered to make our communities safer through their verdicts. It may even help you find the hero in yourself.

A unique take on how to make your case come to life in the courtroom by actively engaging the people who matter the most in trial—the jurors—through empowerment and hero-making.

Like all good stories, Twelve Heroes, One Voice draws us ever onward. Bettinger shows us why and how to care for our clients. It invites us all to be larger than our present conception of ourselves.

This is an instant classic and I have no doubt that it will be instructive to its readers for years to come. Bettinger explains theoretical innovations in trial advocacy in practical terms that readers will immediately understand and undoubtably incorporate in their trial practice. Twelve Heroes One Voice does a fantastic job of synthesizing the research and teaching done by leading neuroscientists and trial advocates in an era that will be remembered as a renaissance for legal education thanks to Trial Guides. The book succeeds in providing practical applications to complicated theories and offers clear instruction and illustrative examples to aid readers in applying his teachings to their trial work.

I read [Twelve Heroes, One Voice] last month in the week before a trial and took what I learned into the trial. I had always understood “hero,” “journey,” and “villain,” but had never really spent time thinking about the role of the “mentor.” [Carl Bettinger’s] description of the role of mentor and focusing on that role in trial gave me a concrete, visceral understanding of my relationship with the jury. It helped me to avoid being either apologetic or timid in my role with them (I am more inclined toward these than I am inclined toward confidence), as I understood I had a specific role to play in their journey that was necessary for them to accomplish a verdict that was true and just. It also helped me understand the boundaries of my relationship with them. Focusing on my role as mentor, I not only said the words “I cannot go back with you to the jury room to deliberate,” but meant them. It was important for them and for me—for us—to speak to the work they would have to do without me. In the end, the jury was heroic and we obtained a fantastic result for my client.

I read Twelve Heroes, One Voice last week while I prepared for trial. It resonated with me and transformed my prep and our trial. I told my client’s story. I gave up the power to write the ending. Before I read the book, this was a ‘soft tissue- no objective findings case.’ Allstate offered $9k. I asked for $66k. I said my client wouldn’t think that was enough if you asked him, but it was what I was comfortable asking for. The jury heard the story and awarded $91k. There was no reptile in the courtroom. Only heroes. Thank you.

Two weeks ago I tried a rear end back and shoulder injury case of a 76 year old woman hit in Rhode Island. Unlike Mass., this state allows voir dire and suggestions of $ amounts. 25K in meds; a report done for us on causation but no live (or recorded) testimony. I incorporated so much of your work in voir dire (especially recognizing the specialness of the jurors and affirming their power). I suggested that they would be justified in giving her over 1 million, a number all agreed would take some doing. Offer was 30K (then 108K just on eve of trial). In closing I again empowered them. (‘your power here is every bit as potent as the power of one who negligently operates a vehicle and hurts someone..’) Asked them to save the day. Explicitly told them the once upon a time story of my client… etc. ‘Until one day this jury would write the story of the balance of her 12 years of life expectancy.’ I asked them not to give in to the impulse to say ‘just another accident’ and to show courage and do something they can be proud of. (used the ‘comp end’ of the balance, love that!) Had your book in my briefcase; consulted during the process many times (recommend it widely). Jury; All the meds, more than half the wages (for a then 71 year old nurse), 301,000 for pain and suffering and 40,000 for impairment, i.e. 401,000.00. (a very large amount given the circumstances). Judge was impressed by the closing (questioned the voir dire style) and stunned by the verdict (but he has upheld it; I think in large part because he was empowered to help as well).

I would like to thank Carl Bettinger for writing Twelve Heroes, One Voice. I had been struggling to find my voice again in the courthouse. What worked for me ten years ago was no longer resonating with today’s juries. I worked with David Ball and others, but it didn’t feel like it fit, and I still was not happy with my verdicts. When I read Twelve Heroes, One Voice, it really resonated with me. I felt like I suddenly had insights to explain how I won some of my past victories, and a way to guide a jury to the truth. I tried my first case this week since reading the book. It was a car wreck case involving a hit-and-run. Defendants said that we had the wrong vehicle. They hired a reconstructionist who said that their car could not have been involved in a wreck, and a radiologist to say that everything wrong with my client was preexisting. I had a good client and a good story, but the case definitely had its challenges. I did my best to incorporate what I read in Twelve Heroes into my trial. It felt right. I was more alive in the courtroom than I had been in years. Past medicals were $18,000. Today a jury in Hidalgo County, Texas found the defendants negligent, and awarded $366,600. I don’t think I could have done it without Twelve Heroes, One Voice.

I have tried three jury trials using all the concepts in the book since I got it and won all three. Great book, and it has revolutionized the way I try cases.

I have tried several hundred serious criminal jury trials. I thought there was little new to learn in persuading juries, yet I devoured Carl’s book. I look forward to using these techniques in upcoming trials. This book is invaluable.

Like Rules of the Road, David Ball on Damages, and The Persuasive Edge, this is another Trial Guides book that is a must-have for any plaintiff’s lawyer’s library. Carl is a true hero to every trial lawyer for writing, sharing his skills and wisdom with us so that we can better help our clients.

Story, our most primitive and still most robust method of communication, is what jurors make up for themselves unless you create a good one for them. Bettinger’s powerful way to do that should become the gold standard for every closing we do from now on. In Twelve Heroes, One Voice Bettinger writes, teaches, and inspires with wisdom and heroic fervor. Don’t miss this new Trial Guides classic-in-the-making.

Carl Bettinger well teaches the hero’s journey because he’s taken it himself. Study this book. You’ll find the hero’s journey in your life and your client’s as well. More important, you’ll learn to take the jury on its heroic journey to justice for your cause.

I have found that the best books about how to be a trial lawyer are not law books. They are books about psychology, literature, and stories. Twelve Heroes, One Voice is the first book that really brings it all together.

No one could not come away a better lawyer if they can master the concepts of this latest contribution to make us all better spokespersons for our clients.

When Carl Bettinger produces the simple truth of the honest story for the empowered jury, the most skilled defense lawyer has no defense.