Means — continued from Previous Page
for the injuries your client has sustained. Or they simply may be opposed in prin- ciple to the civil justice system and deter- minations being made by jurors as opposed to judges or other professionals. One way to obtain valuable infor-
mation from prospective jurors is to cre- ate an environment that makes them receptive to answering your questions. Assuring them that you really want to know what they think, that there are no right or wrong answers; there are only their opinions based on their own life experiences and that is what you want to know about. Validating their answers by thanking them for having the courage to step forward and speak their minds on sensitive issues, even those opposed to the facts of your case, is key to engaging other similarly minded jurors to step forward with their opin- ions as well.
Non-verbal communications Horses couldn’t care less about what
you say. They pick up on your energy and what you do with it and they expect that you will do the same with them. Jett communicated no less than five distinct messages and one final warning that he wasn’t ready to buy into my plan of
action. First, his attention was focused elsewhere, and not only did I not know why, I did not attempt to find out. Second, he gave me several non-verbal cues that communicated his disagree- ment with my plan: beginning with fail- ing to come when I called him, to laying his ears back when I approached him, followed by moving off to avoid me and becoming agitated when I pressed him against the rail. He even gave me fair warning that I wasn’t listening to what he was trying to say by his final “don’t you hear me” non-verbal message of cocking his leg and waiting before he kicked. Jurors provide similar non-verbal
clues through the existence of lack of eye contact, body orientation, posture, hand movement, speech patterns, handwriting (on juror questionnaires) and even the clothes they wear. Not only do you want to be aware of and evaluate these cues, you want to note whether they are con- gruent with one another and with the verbal responses provided. If they are not, you will want to assess why the juror is manipulating his or her answers, which is in itself a communication about the kind of juror they will be. There are basically two types of
human nonverbal cues. Paralinguistic
cues are the manner in which a given message is delivered, e.g. the speaker’s tone, vocal pitch, rate of speech, etc. Kinesic cues, on the other hand, refer to physical signs such as body language, expressions, eye contact, hand gestures, etc.1
Voir Dire, An Art in Search of
Science?) Attorneys are sometimes so focused on their voir dire agenda that they ignore the obvious messages sent by way of non-verbal cues and consequently miss the opportunity to learn more about how a prospective juror really feels.
Don’t waste the valuable time you
have to learn about prospective jurors by trying solely to indoctrinate or persuade them. They’re smart, and they’ll just move on down the fence line like Jett and shut you out. So talk with your jurors, not at them. And stop, look and listen to them so that you can learn how they really feel. Having a second person to observe prospective jurors’ non-verbal cues is very helpful in that regard.
“Consciousness” rather than “control” To obtain your goal of a pleasant
trail ride or a beautifully executed dres- sage routine requires that you establish a relationship with the horse based on fair
www.pma-adr.com
877.678.1010
www.pma-adr.com
Christine Masters, Esq. PMA Neutral
74 — The Advocate Magazine FEBRUARY 2012
Eugene C. Moscovitch, Esq. PMA Neutral
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96