|
Common Sense Rules of Advocacy for Lawyers
Second Dimension
This second dimension is as different from
the first as up and down is different from to and fro. It is this:
Human Beings Are Far More Video than Audio
The way we collect most of our information is through our eyesight.
Consider the use we make of our senses. In today's world, touch is
used mainly for enjoyment: we get a lot of information from handling
things, but touch is a subsidiary sense. Smell is much the same for us
humans, and so is taste: as devices by which we collect information,
touch, smell, and taste take a backseat to sight and hearing. And when
you compare sight and hearing, you realize that the modern human
being's principal means of fact gathering, of learning, and of
understanding, is eyesight.
We don't have a phrase hearing is believing. We are used to
television, video, cinema, newsprint, books. Intent listening is
something we do with surprising rarity. Drive along with an education
tape in your player, a tape designed to bring you up to date on some
legal topic. How many times have you found your mind wandering,
realizing that for several minutes you just haven't heard a thing? You
nod off in your listening far more readily and easily than in your
seeing.
What most lawyers ask the factfinders to do in court is to use their
second-best device for gathering understanding. And the factfinders
do it: on the whole they do it well. But since we don't tie blindfolds
on them, they don't switch off their best information gathering
device. It is operating all the time while we are appealing to their
second-best device.
This obvious truth, this second dimension of reality we are operating
in, has to be remembered at all times. People who have studied the
psychology of communications have some terrifying statistics for us
lawyers. Examples:
- 60 percent of a message is conveyed by body language and visual
appearance generally.
- 30 percent of a message is conveyed by tone of voice.
- Only 10 percent of a message comes through the words used.
- Only 10 percent of what people hear gets remembered. If, on the
other hand, they see something connected with what they are hearing,
as they are hearing it, they remember 50 percent.
They didn't tell me these things in law school. I wasn't given this
information during my apprenticeship. Lawyers tend not to know these
statistics, just as they don't seem to realize that they are operating
virtually all the time in the Video Dimension.
Yet from the moment you enter the courthouse, the chances are you are
going to be seen by one or more jurors. When you are in the courtroom
itself, you are under the scrutiny of the jury almost full time. This
means you are conveying visual messages to the jurors the whole day
through. You can't help it.
We all have body language. Without realizing what we are signaling, we
are in fact signaling something all the time. Since we can't help it,
we simply must know what we are conveying. Appearances count more in
the courtroom than most lawyers are prepared to admit or think about.
But we are public performers. No less than the actor, the fashion
model, and the politician, we are making a visual impression all the
time and we must know what that impression is.
Although we may be embarrassed by the idea and perhaps a little shy,
we ought to stand regularly in front of a mirror, talking and moving
and gesturing, simply to get to know ourselves and to stay knowing
ourselves. Try it tonight. See how long you have to look at the most
familiar face in the world before a complete stranger looks back at
you. It takes a little less than two minutes with most people.
The adult human hardly ever gets a completely new and objective view
of himself or herself, but we advocates have a duty to stay in touch
with ourselves and know how we are coming across, visually, to the
rest of the world. The video recorder is a wonderful tool
for self-awareness. Seeing yourself on video can be intimidating, but
it will show you things you just hadn't been aware of: how you move
your head, what you do with your mouth, your nose, your eyebrows, and,
particularly, your eyes. It will show you how you move your hands,
your arms, and your body generally. The lines on your forehead and
around your nose are especially important. This is because they are
the principal components of the frown and the sneer and can easily
make you look anxious, or, far worse, disdainful. You can't know how
your body is communicating without making a
study of yourself.
As soon as you admit to yourself that yes, this Video Dimension is
real, some practical rules are staring at you. The more you think
about it, the more you'll see, but the most obvious rules are the
following:
|
Rule 1 You Must Dress Appropriately |
It has been said by one judge that in her court the lawyer who wears
polyester has the burden of proof. Jurors have surprisingly high
expectations of trial lawyers, and dress is important. The colors you
wear, and that your client and witnesses wear, are much more
significant than most of us ever pause to think about. If you've never
encountered any of the studies that have been done on the impact of
color, you should consider attending a seminar by an expert in the
field. Until you have seen it physically demonstrated, you are
unlikely to appreciate what an astonishing effect appropriate and
inappropriate color can have on the impression made by the wearer.
It can even raise ethical questions. Since dressing in the "right"
colors can make a person seem healthier and altogether more vital,
just as dressing in the "wrong" colors can have the quite opposite
effect, what should you do with a client who is constantly in pain but
trying to be brave about it? Should she dress so as to look as healthy
as possible, or should her colors be chosen so as to make her seem as
unhealthy as she is? You'll find a fuller explanation of color
considerations in Appendix 1, Why Color is Critical.
Common Sense Rules of
Advocacy for Lawyers
By Keith Evans
$35
Plus shipping and handling (6% of order, $7.95 minimum).
Ships within 1 business
day
Hardbound: 264 pages
ISBN 10: 1587330059
ISBN 13: 978-1-58733-005-6
LCCN: 2003113147
OCLC: 56315474
Published 2004
Dimensions: 7.25 x 7.8 x
0.8
Weight: 1.2 pounds
Discount for bookstores and classroom use.
VA sales tax added when shipped to VA address.
Publication descriptions and Order form (10-page pdf)
Also see
URLs:
www.TheCapitol.Net/Publications/commonsenseSampSec2ndDimension.html
www.RulesOfAdvocacy.com
Last updated:
May 07, 2008
|
