ABA Journal Blawg 100!
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Archive for the ‘Trends and Goofy Stuff’ Category
Practice Strategies You May Have Missed in Your Travels
We know you’re busy. We’re busy too. And often we collect tidbits that are perhaps amusing and potentially useful. So once again, we want to share those with you.
Civility is just plain a good thing
Being civil is a good thing for many reasons. A powerful and new reason may simply be self-defense. Be civil in the courtroom and avoid mistrials caused by jurors who want to punch you in the nose.
The dangers (or perhaps the advantage) of sleepy jurors
Avoid seating sleepy jurors because they will engage in much counter-factual thinking. (On second-thought, don’t seat them unless you want jurors with bias.) If you see jurors yawning, perhaps it’s a good time for a short recess?
It’s definitive
You need to own twenty pairs of underwear. This is every day, non-special-occasion underwear.
Finally got paid on that over-due account?
Alas. It may not be a reason to celebrate. Economists tell us you are much more likely to die after a payday. And it’s as consistently happening now as it was in the mid-1970’s. Yikes.
Avoid seating overtly hostile jurors but know not everyone will think you’re amazing
Finally, it’s okay if not everyone on the jury likes you. I mean, you want to try for sure. But no one, not even the most omniscient, hits a home run every time.
If you read us and find us useful, helpful, entertaining, or in any way enlightening–please consider nominating us for this year’s Blawg 100 listings. You brought us into the Blawg 100 for 2010–how about helping in 2011? Nominate us for the ABA Blawg 100 here.
2010 in review: Aging brains, money, happiness, and a bris exception
As trial consultants, we are always on the lookout for new nuggets of useful information. Some of them are true wisdom and some… let’s just say ‘not so much’. Generally, we share only the really good stuff with you but sometimes we regress a bit. And this is one of those times. Hang on!
Despite the disturbing news out earlier this year that middle age now begins at 35 and multiple other (obviously erroneous) sources telling us that aging brains are simply not up to par—there is good news for those of us on the other side of 30 (even those of us way on the other side!). The development of face memory doesn’t reach it’s peak until our early 30s. I bet this is why those of us well on the other side of 30 ponder ‘that person looks familiar’ more often than those under 30. We simply remember more.
2010 also brought us the disconcerting news that money can’t buy happiness (or fidelity) unless it’s above a certain amount of money. Turns out it also can’t buy you sensitivity to others. Members of the ‘upper class’ (rich people) have a much harder time reading/intuiting the emotions of others.
We’ve done an ongoing post topic here at The Jury Room on how hard it is to be a woman. And there are certainly lots of reasons for that. But we’re ending up 2010 with a ray of hope. Women often report ongoing instances of sexist statements/communications in the workplace. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that women who confront sexist statements in the workplace feel more competent and more capable.
And on that note, we want to applaud Judge Kimba Wood from the Southern District of New York who responded to a male attorney requesting time away if his daughter gave birth to a boy. Judge Wood made a ‘bris exception’ and countered with what would happen if a daughter was born:
“Mr. Epstein will be permitted to attend the bris, in the joyous event that a son is born. But the Court would like to balance the scales. If a daughter is born, there will be a public celebration in Court, with readings from poetry celebrating girls and women.”
Gervais, S. J.,, Hillard, A. &, & Vescio, T. K. (2010). Confronting sexism: The role of relationship orientation and gender. Sex Roles, 63, 463-474
Kraus MW, Côté S, & Keltner D (2010). Social class, contextualism, and empathic accuracy. Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS, 21 (11), 1716-23 PMID: 20974714
I don’t have a vested interest in Starbucks but I’d accept free coffee
I have a gold card. A Starbucks gold card engraved with my name and signifying that I spend altogether too much money at Starbucks. It’s summertime and that changes my winter coffee from a venti skinny vanilla latte to an iced venti skinny vanilla latte. I love coffee.
But I am something of a coffee snob. And I do love me some Starbucks. So I resent it when what I know to be true is debunked. I am not so easily persuaded. After all, I know that coffee does many, many wonderful things. It helps keep us safe and makes us like people more. It slows down the dementia process and who can argue with that as a benefit? And it reduces mistakes made by shift workers (which would intimate that medical mistakes can be reduced by caffeine!). And in a vein truly near and dear to my heart—caffeine and Starbucks inspires social sciences researchers in their understanding of persuasion.
So I think it’s understandable that I am offended by the recent publication of a study showing that coffee consumption is unrelated to alertness. Please. I think I know if caffeine gives me a boost in the morning. But researchers from England say it isn’t true. They say there is no “net benefit” from drinking coffee. Yeah, sure. Research probably funded by the ‘Prince of Wales Tea Council’. I considered their ideas because I am open-minded and thoughtful. But it simply isn’t true. (Starbucks executives reading this can find my contact information on our website. I mean hey—I heard that Gold Cards have privileges!)
Coffee is terrific. It’s good for us. It keeps us from being snarky about lame research. This study is as ridiculous as that one saying a Big Mac nutritionally beats out Chipotle’s burritos.
Things you may have missed in your travels…
It’s easy to miss things when you are traveling or taking depositions or not focused on current events. Honestly, is it safe to go off the grid? We want to make it easier for you to keep up. Here’s a collection of things you may have missed that may (one day) be important for you to know. And, if not, perhaps they will brighten your day and that makes it all worthwhile!
Trust your intuition!
Some years back, a contestant on the Dating Game was the winner of a date with the Bachelorette. His name was Rodney Alcala and he was a pretty good-looking guy although also a bit creepy. Allegedly, the bachelorette refused to go on the date with him. Turns out he has recently been convicted of serial murders. So if you are dating and feel an odd vibe—run!
And if you don’t trust your intuition…
So let’s say you slip and don’t trust your intuition and the next thing you know, you are restrained with zip ties. [Don’t you hate it when that happens?] There’s actually a tutorial for breaking free. As a commenter said, “you never know when you might need something like that”.
Everyone’s a critic!
You do your best work yet there is always some naysayer who will criticize. But they usually (we hope) don’t call the police! The spring snowstorms of 2010 brought out the artistry in a pair of siblings who sculpted a lovely tribute to Venus de Milo in their front yard. But someone in the neighborhood complained about the snowwoman’s nudity and they had to dress her. Remember when AG John Ashcroft had the statues in the Department of Justice draped?
Staying current on trends
Finally, it’s our job to stay current on trends and so here’s an important one to know about. You may know about the Bedazzler (a tool to make otherwise normal looking garments into something suitable for the Grand Old Opry—with sequins, rhinestones and metal decorations). Well the creative craft crowd couldn’t leave well enough alone. There is a new trend involving hot glue but with nothing to do with garments. It’s called ‘vajazzling’ and involves rounding out a bikini wax with decorative applications of colored crystals. It’s evidently not recommended for health reasons but we don’t think it’s done for health reasons.
Just our effort here at Keene Trial to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the world. In case you missed it. Just know we remain vigilant always. And while we are all for artistic expression, we are not recommending vajazzling. Or even Bedazzling. But unlike John Ahscroft, we trust you to exercise your own artistic sensibilities.
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