I am reading a book by David Ball and Don Keenan entitled "Reptile: The 2009 Manual of The Plaintiff's Revolution". The authors advise the plaintiffs' bar regarding trial and discovery tactics. Several prominent lawyers on the plaintiffs' side have cited this book as the new bible of advocacy. Defense lawyers would do well to become familiar with the concepts, now being taught in trial advocacy courses and at CLEs throughout the country.
The thesis of this book is that jurors, like all humankind, have reptilian brains - indeed, the oldest part of the brain is the "triune" brain or reptilian brain. "The conscious brain may get all the attention, but consciousness is a small part of what the brain does, and it's a slave to everthing that works beneath it." "When the Reptile sees a survival danger, even a small one, she protects her genes by impelling the juror to protect himself and the community." "The Reptile built and invented the rest of the brain, and now runs it." More...