Reader Comments
Praise for:Facts Can't Speak for Themselves Reveal the stories that give facts their meaning.by Eric Oliver NITA, Louisville, CO (2006)
"As a perpetual student and practitioner of communication and persuasion skills, I approached Eric Oliver's new book, Facts Can't Speak for Themselves, with high anticipation. As usual, Eric's brilliance and insights concerning storytelling, focus groups and communication principles are exceeded only by his unique application of those principles to real cases. Many of us have profited, both intellectually and financially, from Eric's wisdom in the past and, regardless of our current level of knowledge and expertise, his latest contribution will help trial lawyers learn new skills while honing old ones. This book will help us help our clients."
- Howard L. Nations, Attorney at Law, Houston, TX
"After 33 years in the courtroom and a few hundred jury trials, what's new and worth studying? The short answer is Eric Oliver's book Facts Can't Speak for Themselves. Read this book and new explanations for your old losses creep into view. Taking advantage of Eric's insights requires thoughtful reading and some reflective quiet time. It's nice to be a 57 year old freshman, new and better."
- William Barton, Barton & Strever PC, Newport, OR
"I was not at all surprised at the superior quality of Eric's new book, having had the pleasure of knowing Eric for a long time and benefiting enormously from his unique and masterful expertise in conducting focus groups. His book achieves a daunting goal - codification of his creative and powerful cutting-edge techniques for communicating with jurors. This book contains powerful tools that will profoundly enhance a lawyer's most important skills - really talking, and listening, to juries. This may be the most important book a lawyer will ever read."
- Keith Hebiesen, Clifford Law Offices, Chicago, IL
"In Steven Spielberg's classic movie, Amistad, the lawyers who are representing the Africans charged with murdering their captors approach John Quincy Adams, played by Anthony Hopkins to ask him to assist in their defense. Adams at first refuses but asks, "What is their story?" He then explains to the entreating trial lawyers that cases are won by the person who has the strongest story.
Eric Oliver has reminded us of this principle and carries it one step further: it takes twelve stories to win. The trial lawyer is not presenting the case to an audience of twelve, but rather to twelve audiences. Eric Oliver's new book is a must read for all those who desire to improve their persuasive skills."
- Jim M. Perdue, The Perdue Law Firm LLP, Houston, Texas
Author of, I Remember Atticus and Winning with Stories
"What could be more fundamental to those of us who are in the profession of trial litigation then an accurate understanding about how people process information? Yet many trial lawyers accept folklore about the process to their disadvantage. Eric Oliver's book clears away these mistaken beliefs and provides a correct explanation about how judges and juries really utilize our communications. Applying his knowledge and understanding in this book will improve every lawyer's skill and ability. Over the years I have known Eric he continually has given me fresh insight about this subject to my great benefit as a trial lawyer. This is a book every trial lawyer should own."
- C. Paul Luvera, The Luvera Law Firm, Seattle, WA
"From the time we began applying what we learned from Eric Oliver's methodology, we have been most fortunate to gain several record settlements for clients, unprecedented in their venues, and we have not lost a case in court, trying, on average, two major cases a year the entire time."
- Ed Hershewe, Hershewe Law Firm, Joplin, MO
"Much like great athletes such as Wayne Gretzky, who was capable of seeing his game in slow motion while it seemed to speed by his opponents, Eric Oliver sees advocacy and persuasion in a different dimension than the rest of us. This book is a logical culmination of ground breaking work that Eric has done over the past decade-plus. His focus on stories, not the ones we develop in our case, but the ones the jurors develop in their heads, does more to shed light on decision-making psychology than anyone in our field ever has.
"It takes a while to get through it, but once you've read this book, you'll never look at your cases in the same light again; the light in which you view them will be brighter and clearer."
- Bob Gerchen, Senior Trial Consultant, Litigation Insights,
Author of 101 Quick Courtroom Tips for Busy Lawyers
"This book shows that common sense still exists at deeper levels of thought and at deeper levels of analysis of human behavior."
- N. Dean Nasser, Reviewer, Amazon.com (Sioux Falls, SD)
"Impressively informed by science and experience, Eric Oliver brings our understanding of the story model to a new level. It is an essential guide to how jurors think and feel about cases - and how they arrive at verdicts."
- Neil J. Kressel, Ph.D., Coauthor of Stack and Sway: The New Science of Jury Consulting
"Eric Oliver is one of the most insightful trial consultants working today. Savvy trial attorneys are aware of the story model of juror decision-making, but even they seldom know how to apply that research to improve their case presentation. Eric suggests that no universal case story exists: each juror develops his own story of the case drawing on his own life experience. Eric teaches how to mine those individual stories during the research phase for ways to develop a persuasive case presentation that will appeal to the widest audience. This is a groundbreaking work. Eric's thesis that so much of what influences juror and other decision-makers happens at the unconscious level is important and will change how you conduct and analyze focus groups. Leave it to Eric to listen to what jurors are not saying. This thoughtful, well developed analysis will be invaluable to the practitioner. Read this book and significantly improve your ability to persuade jurors, judges, arbitrators and other decision- makers."
- Carol L. Bauss, Senior Trial Consultant, National Jury Project
"Eric Oliver offers us such a richness of perception and depth of understanding, we are overwhelmed by it. Facts Can't Speak for Themselves is a gift. In this amazing window into the decision making of jurors, he leads us to the essence of what we must know if we are to be successful: that what is going on in the unconscious minds of jurors is where we must search for the key, and that is indeed possible to find our way if we are willing to learn when and what to ask, and how to listen for the answers. Eric first leads us through the process of story building, then teaches us how to use focus groups to discover what stories of our case the jurors build and how, and finally how to deconstruct and rebuild a presentation that the jurors will embrace in the journey to a verdict favorable for our clients. We must lose control to gain control. And, if we listen to Eric, and trust him, we will find ourselves exactly where we want to be when the twelve come back to announce their verdict."
- Elizabeth F. Kuniholm, Kuniholm Law Firm, Raleigh, NC
"Eric is a bright, bright guy who has figured out how to convey his bright, bright thoughts about how people (and therefore jurors) really process information they are told and how they then process it to their conclusion. He offers methods to take advantage of these built-in processes. Throughout my own comments and throughout literature on case presentation, you will see the word "story" countless times. That's because stories are how humans store and organize information... sometimes well, sometimes poorly, and sometimes totally inexplicably. Eric talks about harvesting stories that will help you-- through focus groups and other means. It's also good foundation for jury selection. I give it a strong recommendation."
- Rich Matthews, Attorney and Trial Consultant, Decision Analysis, Author of the blog, Juryology.com
