{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Effective Lawyer","title":"Avoiding Costly Plaintiff Errors","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1875,"description":"Summary\nIn this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder Jack Zinda is joined by Lead Trial Lawyer Drew Bell. They discuss common errors from both sides of the courtroom and the lessons they’ve learned.\nDiscussed in this Episode:\nAvoid overreach\nPellet issues\nAdvocacy mistakes\nTelling the story\nAsking for money\nAttacking witnesses\nDiscover battles\nAvoid Overreach\nDrew talks about the concept of “playing it vanilla” when you’re a plaintiff lawyer and how that differs from being a defender. As a defender, you’re often tasked with finding ways to elicit emotional responses from the jury in a way that masks or avoids the reason for the case. The defender may look for something the plaintiff lawyer presents and may attempt to spin it.\nPellet Issues\nAs a defender it could be in your best interest to allow the plaintiff lawyer to make mistakes. Allowing the plaintiff to submit evidence that won’t help their case or even hurts their case gives you more opportunity to poke holes. Bringing in a pellet council can be a great way to ensure that problems don’t slip through the cracks.\nAdvocacy Mistakes\n“Jury selection is Opposite Day” for defendants. Instead of trying to find jurors who will be favorable to your case, you’ll instead want to weed out those who will judge your case most harshly. Some preconditioning can be fine, but it’s much more important to get rid of the jurors who are going to kill your case.\nTelling the Story\nOne of the biggest mistakes plaintiff lawyers can make is spending too much time on the story. While it’s important to present enough evidence in your case, you have to make sure that you aren’t getting lost in the narrative and cause the jury to check out. Jack suggests watching true crime documentaries and watch how they concisely tell the story.\nAsking for Money\nIf you are able to, you should test your number with an audience. A big mistake can be asking for more than what the jury thinks the case is worth. It’s also worth noting that revealing...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/ubVs7JMVUyGlZoO-fXoEfc2qw54TFe54uUEmbh4ojCY/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzExODE3LzE2ODI1/Mzc4NTYtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}