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FYV #31 - The Courtroom Code Switch: Mastering Dual Audiences

Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster

Release Date: 08/11/2025

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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster

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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster

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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster

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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster

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Today, we're diving into a trial skill that's always tested but rarely taught: how to speak both fluent legalese and fluent human. In this episode, we talk about why mastering both languages—and knowing when to switch between them—is one of the most overlooked courtroom leadership tools.

If you want to connect with jurors, clarify your message for witnesses, and lead the room with clarity and credibility, this conversation is a must.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  1. Why being too good at legal language can actually backfire in front of a jury

  2. The difference between speaking to the Court vs. speaking to the People—and how to do both skillfully

  3. What happens when jurors hit cognitive overload (and how to avoid losing them)

  4. How to translate complex legal concepts into language your jury can remember and repeat

  5. The vocal and physical shifts that help build trust with your audience in real time

Key Takeaway:

If you want to be remembered in deliberation, your words need to live on without you. Speak in language that jurors can understand, repeat, and use to advocate on your client’s behalf.

Favorite Moment:

“When you say, ‘The defense failed to uphold the requisite duty of care,’ they hear: ‘blah, blah blah.’ But if you say, ‘He didn’t do what he was supposed to do—and that’s what hurt her,’ they get it. That’s the shift.”

Links & Resources:

  1. 🎁 Download the FREE PDF: The Top 20 Legal Terms to Avoid (and what to say instead) — https://www.fostervoicestudio.com/top20

  2. 🎧 Related Episode: Episode #23 – How to Balance Logic and Emotion in Trial

  3. 📕 Jon Acuff Soundtracks: https://jonacuff.com/books/

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