Learn from the lawyer Rick Friedman calls “the greatest demand writer” he knows.
A partner at Friedman Rubin Trial Lawyers, Sean Gamble specializes in traumatic brain injury cases and frequently works with lawyers across the country. Over the course of his career, he’s been involved in a range of cases from medical malpractice and nursing home neglect and abuse to insurance bad faith, toxic exposure, aviation law, and more.
In this video, Sean demonstrates how you can use decision science and compelling frames and language to increase the effectiveness of your demand letters. Sean covers a range of topics, including:
- How the Defense Uses Emotions against Our Clients
- Using Moral Foundations in Writing Your Demand Letters
- Why You Need a Clear Moral Narrative in Your Demand Letters
- Common Problems with Demand Letters
- Using Statistics in Demand Letters to Demonstrate the Defendant’s Threat to the Community
- The Practical Application of Moral Arguments in a Demand Letter
- Using Moral Foundations to Show the Defendant’s Bad Conduct and the Plaintiff’s Good Conduct
- Your Demand Letter May Be an Exhibit in a Future Bad Faith Case
- How to Improve Client Outcomes by Using Moral Foundations
- How Some Lawyers Obtain Larger Verdicts in Conservative Venues
Because most cases settle, the ability to write an effective demand letter is one of the most valuable skills a trial lawyer can have. This one-and-a-half hour presentation is filled with insights for any attorney who wants to take their ability to obtain just outcomes for their clients to the next level.
Using Decision Science to Write Your Demand Letters
1 Introduction
2 The Defense is Weaponizing Social Science against Us
3 The Atlas of Emotions and Moral Foundations Theory
4 The Five Categories of Emotions
5 Fear
6 Sadness
7 Disgust
8 Anger
9 Enjoyment
10 Understanding How the Defense Uses Emotions against Our Clients
11 A Traditional Model of Morality versus Moral Foundations Theory
12 Creating “Tribes”
13 Are We (the Adjustor, Jurors, and Yourself) All on the Same Side?
14 Common Moral Foundations
15 Care/Harm Axis
16 Fairness/Cheating Axis
17 Liberty/Oppression Axis
18 Gerry Spence’s Use of the Betrayal Theme
19 Authority/Subversion Axis
20 Sanctity/Degradation Axis (Disgust and Contamination)
21 The Dominant Moral Foundations of Libertarians, Liberals, and Conservatives
22 Using Moral Foundations in Writing Your Demand Letters, Arbitration, and Trial
23 Dealing with Causation
24 You Need a Clear Moral Narrative in Your Demand Letters, ADR, and Trial
25 Common Problems with Demand Letters
26 Using Statistics in Demand Letters to Demonstrate the Defendant’s Threat to the Community
27 Using Plain English
28 Practical Application of Moral Arguments in a Demand Letter
29 Using Active Voice in Your Demand Letters
30 Cut Out Dumb or Useless Facts in Your Demands, ADR, and Trial
31 Choose Your Words Wisely
32 Using Moral Foundations to Show the Defendant’s Bad Conduct
33 Using Moral Foundations to Show the Plaintiff’s Good Conduct
34 The Demand May Be an Exhibit in a Future Bad Faith Case
35 Improving Client Outcomes by Using Moral Foundations
36 How the Use of Moral Foundations Impact the Adjustor and Jurors
37 How Some Lawyers Obtain Larger Verdicts in Conservative Venues
38 Case Study A: Premises Liability
39 Case Study B: Medical Malpractice
40 Case Study C: Product Liability, Wrongful Death, and Psychological Injury