Developing the Trial Story: Lessons from Thinking Fast and Slow and the Art of Filmmaking

Professor Gary Gildin is joined by Producer/Director Joe Myers of Penn State Public Broadcasting for a compelling seminar designed to assist trial lawyers in becoming more effective advocates and negotiators by finding the most persuasive story of the case. Participants will learn a system for choosing the trial story that may be used by civil lawyers, whether representing the plaintiff or defense, as well as prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers.

The program draws upon recent developments in neuroscience and cognitive psychology to explain why the decision-maker, whether judge or jury, will inevitably rely upon story and emotion to reach a decision. Participants will then learn a protocol for developing the most cogent and persuasive story of the case using the analogous skills of the documentary filmmaker and will apply the protocol for developing the trial story to the Case File used throughout the program.

Pending approval by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board, this program will offer six hours of substantive law, practice, and procedure CLE credit and zero hours of ethics, professionalism, and substance abuse CLE credit.

Online registration for this program is now closed. Please contact Robin Fulton at rjf20@psu.edu or call (717) 241-3504 to inquire about the possibility of attending.