Page 18 - Minnesota Vol 8 No 3
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What I do is a craft, and I spend a ton of my time working on it ... It’s not about manipulation; it’s about crafting clear, persuasive communication that works in the limited time frame and limited environment of a trial.”
“Everywhere I’ve gone,” he said, “I’ve been surrounded by great people who had something I could
learn.”
Between Conard’s remarkable rep-
ertoire of skills and his individualist practice model, he is also in high demand as a trial consul-
tant.
“A lot of lawyers don’t
get to trial that o en, or they have a settle- ment practice. People call and ask if I can help them with a voir dire or with cra ing the trial story they need to tell, whether it is to get an acquit- tal or maximize
damages.”
When asked
why criminal law so inspires him, he said, “I’d say that most of us are capable of all the things we accuse others of doing, given the right circum- stances. I like standing next to the guy or gal everyone has decided they’re go- ing to hate, this human being
we’ve all promised to give dignity and jus- tice.  ey’re going to have to come through me  rst. I like that. I also do a lot of consum- ing plainti  contingency work, and I enjoy that too. A lot of the power dynamics are the same.”
THINKING LIKE A TRIAL ARTIST
A student of narrative form, cognitive neu- roscience and messaging research, Conard says that true trial lawyers need to change the way they think about their work.
“Even lawyers don’t think the way lawyers think. As humans, we make decisions intui- tively and back ll with reason.  ere is a gap between what we perceive and the way we come to believe things are true.  e trial itself is a living thing on its own. It is cultivated. As a lawyer, you give birth to it, raise it and put it to bed. You feel the tuning fork go o  when you get it right.”
According to Conard, “Brevity both hon- ors your audience and your subject.” He takes a less-is-more approach in the courtroom, stating that “the real art of trial is getting rid of facts. Even great facts that don’t move the story forward must be sacri ced. You must leave room for the jury to connect the dots for themselves.”
By way of example, a favorite teaching piece he o en uses is the Norman Maclean short story, “A River Runs  rough It.”
“In my opinion, it is vivid and luscious, with not a single wasted word. It’s dense and rich, but it’s all for the audience. It’s perfect. In trial, you have a story, a narrative and a coun- ter narrative that you’re framing, reframing andcounterframing.Whenyoulearnabout all that stu , it’s like a shiny new toy, and it’s easy to forget that it’s all designed to suit one purpose: to give our decision makers what they need to do the thing they need to do, that we need them to do.”
Conard prepares comprehensively so that he can “teach” a jury.  e role of teacher in trial requires earned credibility. “Once I learn a case fully, o en taking thousands of hours, I think about how I’m going to explain it in
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