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1. Hearing versus Listening
• As subtle as it might be, there is a difference.

2. Hearing versus Listening
• We hear but we don’t listen.
• We try hard to multi-task between twitter and
texting, but invariably that means we’re not
always listening to someone who’s trying to
talk to us.
• As brash as this might sound, we are merely
waiting for the other person to stop talking so
that we can speak the thought that we had a
minute ago.

3. Hearing versus Listening
• As a result, we miss important things that are said
during the course of trial – none more important
than the very witnesses who are testifying.
• There have been times in my career when an
adverse witness gave me a “gift,” none which was
bigger than the arresting officer who referred to
my client as one of “those people.” Nothing could
have revealed a deeper racial bias.

4. Hearing versus Listening
• Sadly, it fell on deaf ears because I was not
listening. Instead, I was merely waiting for the
officer to stop talking so that I could ask my
next question.

5. Hearing versus Listening
• In theater, the type of listening that we do in
real life is referred to as “casual listening” or
“slopping listening.” It is not acceptable.
• Alert attention is different than casual half-
listening.

6. Hearing versus Listening
• As my instructor says, “You have to listen on
stage like you’ve never listened before … as if
your life depended on it.”
• The type of listening has to be as primal as
that of a deer who is on heightened alert for
the rustling of leaves or the snapping of a twig
as a warning that a predator is near.

7. Hearing versus Listening
• A theme that gets repeated over and over again in
acting is this: “The more you look, the more you’ll
see. The more you listen, the more you’ll hear.”
• When we listen and hear and look and see, we
experience the other person.

8. Hearing versus Listening
• How is heightened listening helpful in the
courtroom?
– (1) You won’t miss important things that are said
by a witness.

9. Hearing versus Listening
– You’ll become more sensitized and aware of the
feelings of the jurors as communicated
nonverbally by them. Many lawyers have trouble
accepting the fact that the jury is speaking back to
them during the trial. The argument that is
commonly made is that the jurors have “poker
faces” or that they are “deadpan.” First of all,
there is no such thing as nothing. There is always
something. In fact, silence is considered the most
expressive form of communication.

10. Hearing versus Listening
– Second, you can’t passively be hoping to get
something from the jury. You are just as important a
part of the equation as the jurors are. The nonverbal
communication you radiate is essential. You have to
get up there with the intention of making contact.
Metaphorically speaking, you’re building a bridge of
contact with the jury by really listening and really
seeing. When there is genuine contact that comes
from really looking and really listening, whatever is
going on in Person A is going to show up somehow in
Person B. In other words, something about Person A is
going to change Person B.

11. Hearing versus Listening
– The jury is like an electric current that you’re
wired to. What comes out of you will come off of
them and vice versa. You and the jury are
constantly affecting each other.

12. Hearing versus Listening
• “What if I’m a bad listener?”
• Don’t worry! Listening is a skill just like writing
or playing baseball is. That’s good news,
because it also means that you can learn to
listen and be with the person who’s talking to
you when they’re talking to you.
• Being there when a person is talking to you is
a vital skill for a lawyer to possess both in and
out of the courtroom.