Themes: Table of Contents

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By Howard L. Nations

Board Certified in Personal Injury and Civil Trial Law
Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Law Offices of Howard L. Nations
A Professional Corporation
The Sterling Mansion
4515 Yoakum Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77006-5895
TEL: 713-807-8400 FAX:713-807-8423
Email: nations@howardnations.com
http://www.howardnations.com/

By Amy Singer, Ph.D.
Trial Consultants, Inc.
840 N.E. 20th Avenue,
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33304,
(800) A-JURY DR
email: JuryDoctor@aol.com & JuryDr@gate.net
Web site: http://www.trialconsultants.com

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A. CREATING AND ADAPTING THEMES

1. Developing Case Specific Themes
2. Adapting Standard Themes
3. Thematic Anchoring
   

B. STRUCTURING POWER THEMES

1. Psychological Principle of Structuring
2. Psychological Tools of Structure
   1. Primacy
   2. Thematic Anchoring
      (1) Anchoring Through Repetition
      (2) Anchoring Technique
      (3) Collapsing an Anchor
      (4) Anchor Recalls Entire Experience
   3. Neurolinguistic Programming - Pacing
      (1) Pacing to Create Similarities
      (2) Matching and Mismatching
      (3) Pacing at all Levels
      (4) Pacing in the Primary Representational System
   4. Embedded Commands
      (1) Communicate a Command to the Unconscious Mind
      (2) Preface, Pause, Voice Change and Command
   5. The Zeigarnik Effect
   6. Recency
3. Rhetorical Tools of Structure
   1. Triad
   2. Parallel Structure
   3. Antithesis
   4. Repetition
      (1) Repetition At The Beginning
      (2) Refrain
      (3) Echo Effect
      (4) Augmentative Repetition
      (5) Repetition of the Central Theme
   5. Thematic Reversal
   6. Rhetorical Question
   7. Alliteration
   8. Understatement
   9. Grammatical Inversion
   10. Rhythm
4. Verbal Tools of Structure
   1. Power Word Choices
      (1) Abstract vs. Concrete
      - (a) Simulative Concrete Words
      - (b) Deliberative Abstract Terms
      - (c) Preloaded Word Selection and Avoidance
      (2) Catch Phrases
      (3) Emotive Words
      (4) Logical vs. Emotional Words
      (5) Short, Long, Old & New Words
      (6) Bilingual: Technical & Lay
      (7) Use of Jargon
      (8) Slang
      (9) Vernacular or Colloquialism
      (10) Language of the Case
   2. Analogies
   3. Metaphors
   4. Similes
   5. Establish Sense of Humor
   6. Anecdotes
   7. Quotes
      (1) Prose
      (2) Poetry
      (3) Biblical Quotes & Parables
      (4) Song Lyrics
      (5) Literature
      (6) Witnesses/Parties
      (7) Medical Quotations
   8. Adapting Standard Arguments
      (1) Pain and Suffering
      - (a) Measuring Physical Pain and Suffering
      - (b) Constitutional right to be free from pain
      - (c) Pain is life's window into hell
      - (d) Job ad - catastrophic injury
      - (e) Minimum wage
      (2) Value of Human Life
      (3) Full Justice
      

C. PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION OF POWER THEMES AND MESSAGES

1. Non Verbal Communication
   a. The Importance of the Pause
   b. Pacing the Jury
   c. Movements and Gestures
   d. Touching the Client
   e. Dressing for Summation
2. Mood Transference
   a. Transferring a Feeling
   b. Transferring Factual Information
   c. Transferring Visual Information
   

D. DR. AMY SINGER: CASE THEMES

1. Jury-Validated Trial Themes
2. Few Attorneys Think Thematically
3. Rhetoric Requires Themes
4. Themes Essential for Juries
5. What Makes a Good Trial Theme?
6. How Not to Determine Themes
7. Intuition
8. Finding the Ideal Trial Theme
9. Litigation Research
10. Surrogate Juries
11. Who "Owns" the Theme?
12. Using Themes Effectively in the Courtroom
13. The Best Jury Research Format to Test Trial Themes
14. Must Use the Right Theme
15. Developing the Right Trial Theme
16. Trial Theme Discovery
17. Enveloping the Theme
18. It Don't Mean a Thing If it Ain't Got That Theme
19. Identifying the Conversation
20. Complex Cases Require Strong Themes
21. Themes Can Spice up Boring Cases
    

E. CONCLUSION