How do you, as the attorney, persuade the jurors in such a way that they persuade each other to decide in your favor? Nearly 50 years ago, researchers at Yale identified the five steps in the persuasion process: attention, comprehension, acceptance, retention, and action. You must have the jurors’ attention, they must understand your message, they must accept or agree with it, remember it, and act on it in the desired fashion in deliberations. How do these factors play out on a practical level in preparing an opening?
Co-authored by Susan Macpherson. Originally published in Trial, April 2006.