PT142.S3.P2.Q14 > Analytics

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"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.

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

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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.

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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

14.

The author's characterization of stealing ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ████

informal surveys of ████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ █████ ██████████

There’s no indication any of the research discussed involves surveys of clients’ reactions.

statistical surveys of ███████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████

There’s no indication any of the research discussed involves statistical surveys of lawyers.

records of judges' █████████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████████ █████████ ██████████

There’s no indication any of the research discussed involves the records of judges.

informal observations of ████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████████

There’s no indication any of the research discussed involves controlled studies of lawyers’ courtroom behavior.

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Supported. In addition, “research that was not directly concerned with legal proceedings” describes the psychological research in the second half of P2.

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PrepTest 142 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 14

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