49. Justice at Trial, with James Brosnahan

Many a young idealist register for law school with visions of Atticus Finch dancing in their heads, but only the rarest few have those dreams come true. NITA Trustee Emeritus and national treasure James Brosnahan is among them. In Episode 49, this legendary legend reflects on a life in law that has included face-to-face encounters with such cognoscenti as Chief Justice Warren Burger, Senator Orrin Hatch, and the Kennedys. He also talks about his viral LinkedIn series on vocal quality and breaks down the six essential qualities of a commanding speaking voice that have served him well over his 60+ years in the courtroom. 4:28   Voice quality videos on LinkedIn9:05   Evaluating your own voice quality11:25 Tempo17:22 Volume20:53 Tone and mood25:16 Warmup exercises28:20 Emphasis and emotion30:06 Speech harmonizing and collecting voices35:15 Favorite voices37:05 Clarity42:59 Pauses41:57 Arguing before SCOTUS52:04 Interrogation by Orrin Hatch56:21 Controversial representations1:00:16 Defending the Constitution1:03:35 Speaking truth to power1:07:29 Boston Irish and the Kennedy agenda1:14:39 What Jim has learned at NITA1:19:03 Signoff questionsQuote“The goal, which is not easy, is to be like an actor who can throw the voice up into the second balcony. That’s what you want to do. The equivalent in trial is to be sure that every word that you pronounce is heard by Juror 1 in the back row and Juror 6 in the back row, because if they haven’t heard what you’ve said, it’s like it never happened.” Jim Brosnahan ResourcesJim Brosnahan (bio)Jim’s video series (LinkedIn)Justice at Trial: Courtroom Battles and Groundbreaking Cases (book)Publio Delgado, speech harmonizer (YouTube)