Wouldn’t it be nice if jurors could fully tune in to everything you and your trial team say and render a finely-honed, reasonable decision in your client’s favor at the end of trial?

Well, David Mann, a communications specialist who teaches at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and advises lawyers on storytelling strategies, said the chances of finding such a jury, let alone a single juror, capable of such a feat of focus, is “unlikely” at best. Most of the research, he pointed out, shows that people can pay attention for between 27 and 34 seconds before they start making gut-level judgments about you and your client’s case.