Karen Bashor (Partner-Las Vegas) and Stratton Horres (Senior Counsel-Dallas) co-authored "Priming the jury for trial success," published in both Westlaw Today and Reuters Legal News on January 23, 2023, and appearing in the January 24, 2023, edition of The Daily Docket, Reuter's e-newsletter. Karen and Stratton discuss how the voir dire process during jury selection is the most critical phase of any trial, as the jurors selected will determine the client's fate and control the shock value of any verdict. Topics explored include defense approaches to counter 'priming' by the plaintiff's attorneys during voir dire, such as the common strategy wherein plaintiffs' attorneys expose jurors to concepts like danger, safety and risk. This "reptile theory," a decades-old proven method activating jurors' survival instincts, prompts jurors to make decisions based on fear rather than logic. Karen and Stratton offer defense strategies to combat reptile maneuvering and provide other ways defense counsel can "defuse their opponent's priming efforts by indoctrinating jurors during voir dire with their own cognitive "plan" that can spoil a plaintiffs' counsel's priming efforts."

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