Self-study
P1
"Stealing thunder" is a courtroom strategy that consists in a lawyer's revealing negative information about a client before that information is revealed or elicited by an opposing lawyer. █████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██ █████████ █ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██ ████ █████████
Intro topic ·
Stealing thunder
Revealing negative information about one's own client in the courtroom before that information is revealed by the opponent. Many lawyers think this is a good idea if the opponent is likely to reveal the info.
P2
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Support for effectiveness ·
Studies suggest stealing thunder is effective
Studies involve simulated trial situations, not actual trials.
Main point ·
Effectiveness is also supported by psychological explanations
Explanation 1 ·
Volunteering negative info can help credibility
Explanation 2 ·
Causes juries to critically evaluate what opponents will present
Explanation 3 ·
Info revealed multiple times (by both plaintiff and defense) can carry less weight
It's already "old news" by the time the defense brings it up again.
P3
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Explanation 4 ·
Allows lawyer to spin the negative info in a positive way
Jurors will use the early positive framing to guide their later analysis of what comes up in trial.
Potential limit ·
Stealing thunder might not work when info is extremely negative
The very negative info can create a negative framing for jurors, which they'll apply to what comes up in trial.
Passage Style
Single position
13.
The author's attitude regarding stealing ███████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██
a
concerned that the █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████
The author never expresses concern that the technique will become too common.
b
favorable toward its ███ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ █ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████
The author never expresses skepticism about stealing thunder outside the opening statement.
c
concerned that research ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███
The author never expresses concern about research concerning stealing thunder.
d
approving of its ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████████ █████████ ███ ███ ██ ███████████████ █████████
This best captures the author’s attitude as explained above.
e
skeptical of its ███████████ ███ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██████████
The author never expresses skepticism about stealing thunder when used by inexperienced lawyers.