Richard Gabriel, the president of Southern California trial consulting firm Decision Analysis Litigation Strategies, says that in the run-up to trial many lawyers develop a “warrior mentality” as if they’re preparing for battle. Others, believing they have the better evidence and experts, develop “a little bit of sense of entitlement or arrogance.”

Unsurprisingly, Gabriel, who has worked on more than 2,000 trials in one form or another, said neither of those approaches are effective when it comes to getting jurors to go your way.