Winning Case Preparation: Understanding Jury Bias

It’s the Rosetta Stone for translating the facts of your case into a compelling and winning trial story.

Finally, a book that distinguishes legal proof from jury proof. This book emphasizes the outcome determinative difference between the two. If I only had three or four books on my shelf, this book would definitely be one of them. Winning Case Preparation is based on science, yet it focuses on the perspectives and frames of the human condition.

This book offers the reader, whether a lawyer preparing their first case for trial or a seasoned trial lawyer, a methodology grounded in the principles of cognitive science and years of focus-group research. The authors provide readers with the tools to apply an empirical process for constructing a winning trial narrative. I have found the Bottom Up methodology to be the most useful tool I have utilized for preparing a winning case for my clients.

When a courtroom lawyer stops learning, it’s time to quit. This work will stand through time in the pantheon of greatest works on human behavior, strategies, and preparation for the trial of individual cases. It is a righteous work which will keep us all learning.

I have used Winning Works since 2007. I have seen the principles and science behind Bottom Up case preparation significantly increase the value of my cases. I have completely changed the way I evaluate, litigate, and try cases as their insights have opened my eyes to the real reasons jurors decide the way they do.

Simply put—Winning Case Preparation is a grand slam. This book will take every advocate, from young lawyer to the seasoned veteran, on a journey to maximizing results for their clients. It is about grasping fundamentals, constructing foundations, and mastering strategy and persuasion. Focusing on the realities and necessities of preparation is what every advocate needs. On a 1 to 10 scale, this book is an 11!

The Overcoming Juror Bias seminars revolutionized the way trial lawyers understand juries and shed light on why good lawyers lose good cases. Winning Case Preparation: Understanding Jury Bias goes even further and provides trial lawyers with the tools necessary to identify, understand, and address jurors’ preconceived notions of the evidence to achieve justice for our clients. A huge ‘thank you’ needs to go out to Bossart, Cusimano, Lazarus, and Wenner for sharing their decades worth of knowledge with all of us who exercise the 7th Amendment.

The research and analysis the authors present as to the biases that jurors bring with them delivers insights that will fundamentally change how plaintiffs’ lawyers prepare and try their cases. To provide the best client representation possible, plaintiffs’ lawyers must understand and apply the authors’ insights, concepts, and recommendations. This book describes what we need to know about jurors’ thinking in a clear and engaging format. Every plaintiffs’ lawyer should have this book—and have a highlighter handy when reading it.

Written by the top trial strategists and jury consultants of our time, this instructional book is a must-read. Winning Case Preparation: Understanding Jury Bias offers a strategic framework and invaluable insight for understanding juror preconceptions and overcoming the hurdles of juror bias to succeed at trial. It’s a thoughtful, intuitive, easy-to-read guide that’s absolutely necessary for any practitioner who intends to be persuasive in the courtroom.

From the original visionaries in understanding juror bias comes another great work where method, mapping, and testing in the Bottom Up strategy become synonymous with understanding why and how jurors decide cases. This book is an absolute must-read that’s full of practical preparation pointers. It’s perfect!