As a jury trial consultant, when I’m asked to jump into a case and help discover the story that needs to be told to the jury, a big part of the job is about finding the moment with my client’s client… the Plaintiff.
What is “the moment?” The moment is the place of possibility, where many emotions, words, ideas, thoughts—can turn on a dime. Finding the moment is necessary before it’s possible to stay in the moment. Of course, finding the moment applies to any area of the trial, whether it be with the lawyer, the client, the experts, or the witnesses.
Finding the moment comes from the art of improvisation. There's an improvisational exercise involving four people. First, you have them come up to the stage. They can only say one sentence and only one sentence, one person after the other and all in order-- one, two, three and four. They can't break the order, but they can take as much time as they want and they can shift the scene. One of the biggest challenges with this exercise is to become disconnected from the story and just be silly, which is fine. Humor certainly has its value. But there's also a great opportunity to be creative at a different level and it's encouraging to know that at any point you can shift the scene and the whole goal is to say yes to it and try to make it work.
I believe that being creative comes from listening and being in the moment. When you're in the moment you find the moment and even if it feels jarring, stay in the moment, stay present to it and allow it to simply become… something. And it's also a great way to measure your willingness to just be still, to trust, to add to, rather than to take away.
When you get really good at this exercise your single sentence has now been reduced to a single word-- the scene that’s been created has been reduced to simply one word. The challenge then becomes, in addition to everything else I'm saying, how do you emotionally justify one word? Why just one word as opposed to a whole sentence? And of course not to look at the other person and wait for them to be in the moment. Your presence, your trust, your listening will allow them to discover. To explore. And then being in the moment becomes a shared experience.
That’s the power of “Being In The Moment”
Working With You And Your Team
I’d love to discuss working with you and your team on your next case. Feel free to give me a call. Among the pre-trial and jury trial consulting that I share, here are other ways to benefit from Tell The Winning Story:
- Law Firm CLE Customized Workshops
- Executive Silver/ Gold/ Platinum Coaching Programs
- Monthly CLE Accredited Workshops
- Webinars