Litigation Support

My recent post on using videos for EDD marketing has continued to elicit conversation. Casey Horne, an attorney with Horne & Horne (they're still working on a website or I'd link to it!), wrote to express his agreement with Ian Henderson's remarks. Casey wrote:

"Peter Drucker made the point years ago that some people learn through their eyes, others through their ears, and damned be he who fails to note the difference.

At the time, it was clear he focused on printed text versus oral speech, so the current fixation on video would be a hybrid and an open question. I find them 80% 'ear' with very little 'eye' data transmission.

I am an 'eye' person. If I hear complex instructions, I have to take notes to 'translate' the information to brain language, where it can be processed and used. Otherwise the MEGO effect controls. (Sharon: for those who don't know, that's the "My Eyes Glaze Over" effect and I am a fellow sufferer)

I know 'ear' people who can hear something once and quote it without error . . . and who can internalize the information and process it to produce action - with successful results.

I have known a (very) few who are both. Not nearly as many as those who may think they are both.

Thanks for writing Casey. And let me added some stats I read some time back (don't ask me to source it because I haven't a clue, but I must have valued the source or I wouldn't have written this information down):

We remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see and 50% of what we see and hear. I'll add the caveat that this was over a short term (two weeks) because we slowly forget things over time. Although my own experience is that we forget faster with each passing year. This accompanies my conviction that mountains also grow higher with each passing year, but that's another matter . . .

John and I teach a hands-on CLE called "Kick Our Tires" in which we help lawyers understand and actually "play" with the new high tech courtrooms here in Fairfax. I always the relate to attendees the thoughts of Judge Gerald Bruce Lee (E.D.VA) who says that lawyers who have a decent case and use a PowerPoint as part of their opening at trial are more likely to win in jury cases. I think that's a confirmation of the stats I quoted above. From the very first, you've told jurors orally and visually what you're going to prove and what's significant in the case. If you then do what you said you were going to do, jurors often stay with the initial mindset that you've provided.

Needless to say, woe betide the lawyer who promises to prove things and then fails to do so.

E-mail: snelson@senseient.com   Phone: 703-359-0700

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