Some recent high-profile trials provide a glimpse of what happens when a lawyer employs a closing argument that rubs people the wrong way.

Jules Epstein, director of advocacy programs at Temple University Beasley School of Law, wrote in his blog about some trials that drew heavy media coverage in which lawyers’ attempts at being zealous advocates were perceived by some as offensive and ineffectual. The examples he cites seem to harken back to the days depicted in the movie “12 Angry Men” when few women sat on juries.

‘Maybe It Wouldn’t Be So Bad’