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If facts won’t open juror’s minds, we need to try something else, something aimed atwhat we call the heart, which is actually the portions of the brain dedicated to emotions.The ideal tool for opening a channel to that part of the brain is something unusual oreye- or ear-catching, an incongruity: a joke, a surprise, a gaffe – real or intended.Think of the two opening statements for the defendants in the movie My Cousin Vinny,one hopelessly inarticulate because of a stutter, the other a simple, “Everything he justsaid, it’s bullshit.” Both opening statements worked dramatically in the film, and bothalso could have potential in a courtroom. Odd as it may seem, a stutter or lisp canactually help a lawyer connect with jurors. 52And an unexpectedly short openingstatement is one way to pique jurors’ interest.If we aren’t blessed with a speech impediment, or the courage to give a one-sentenceopening, we still should be able to think of some way to convince the jury that whateverthey may think of our client, or its lawyers, isn’t the whole story, so they will be receptiveto our evidence. Just as Avis’s ad campaign about being No. 2 managed to portray amultinational company as an underdog, we need to find creative ways to let jurors putour clients in a different, positive light.B. Appeal to Self-InterestFormer Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is credited with saying, “The puntersknow that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named52 See Debra Cassens Weiss, “BigLaw Partner’s Stuttering Brought Tears from Moot Court Judge,Respect from Real Jurors,” ABA Journal post on March 7, 2011(http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/biglaw_partners_stuttering_brought_tears_from_moot_court_judge_respect_from/, last accessed December 7, 2014.)26