for hundreds, if not thousands of years, lawyers have been appealing to the wrong decision-maker. We’ve got two decision-making systems within our brains. Our fast brain, that’s our gut brain, and our slow brain, our calculating brain. Well, your fast brain, that’s your decision maker. You didn’t get married because of logic. You didn’t buy your most recent car or house because of logic.
We make the most important decisions of our lives based on emotion.
And then our slow brain comes along and justifies it for us.
So we think, so when you stand up in front of a jury in court, they’re making their decision based on logic, based on emotions, not logic. And if you can grab their emotions and hold onto their emotions during the same trial and make them think and feel what you want them to think and feel, most of the time you’re going to win.
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Judson Vaughn is a former Hollywood character actor, director, and filmmaker known for roles in films like The Truman Show (1998), Kalifornia (1993), RoboCop 3 (1993), and In the Line of Fire (1993). He has transitioned into teaching persuasive communication skills, particularly for trial lawyers, through companies like Judson Squared (co-founded with trial lawyer Judson Graves) and JurisPerfect Performance Lab, where he serves as co-founder, advocate, and instructor. Vaughn draws on his acting background to train professionals in nonverbal and verbal techniques for building rapid trust and influence, emphasizing how to engage the brain's decision-making systems in high-stakes settings like courtrooms.
The Six Elements of Instinctual Trust form the core of Vaughn's system of persuasive communication, described as precise, objective, primarily physical skills (nonverbal cues involving body, face, and voice) that allow users to secure and maintain trust from others—such as judges, jurors, or clients—in fractions of a second. This framework is taught in his courses, like Persuasive Performance Skills for Fearless Trial Lawyers, and is positioned as a foundation for directing emotions, "writing" body language to lead others, and bypassing logical defenses to appeal directly to instinctual responses. While the exact elements are proprietary and detailed primarily in paid workshops or online programs (not fully disclosed publicly), available descriptions highlight related concepts and techniques, including:
- Koragraphy: A coined term likely referring to choreographed or patterned nonverbal movements to influence perception.
- Dominant Face: Techniques for projecting authority or control through facial positioning and expressions.
- Performance Face: Controlled facial cues to convey intent, such as using passive, pleasant smiles upon entering a room to instantly connect with an audience.
- Consumption: Possibly related to how one "consumes" or processes social cues, or directs others' attention.
- What You Are Looking For: A framework for interpreting responses, with sub-categories like Attraction (positive pull), Connection (rapport), Nothing (neutral), Anti-Connection (mild disconnect), and Repulsion (strong aversion).
- Nature & Nurture: Balancing innate instincts with learned behaviors to build authentic trust.
Additional techniques tied to the system include optimizing handshakes (e.g., varying length, arm hold, and eye contact for impact, as seen in examples from presidents like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton), asymmetry in posture (e.g., crossed ankles for appeal), and avoiding mismatched expressions that undermine credibility. Vaughn's workshops, such as those held in Atlanta in 2025, involve mock trials where participants practice these in binders outlining the elements, focusing on emotional engagement over pure logic. For full access, his programs are available via judsonsquared.com or jurisperfect.com.
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