Helping Lawyers and Leaders Leverage Emotional Intelligence and Neuroscience-Backed Communication Skills to Become Maximally Persuasive in the Boardroom and the Courtroom.
BOOK ME FOR YOUR NEXT PODCAST EPISODE, CONFERENCE, OR GUEST/EXPERT SESSION
If your audience wants to know how to combine cutting-edge brain research with practical leadership and communication skills that build trust, inspire others, win cases and generate outstanding results, I’ll show them how.
Together, we can design a workshop or a talk to align with your needs.
Hello. I'm Jennifer B.
Gardner.
I'm a Los Angeles-based trial lawyer who's won unwinnable cases that make people say, “Damn! How’d she do that?”
WE WON A SIGNAL AWARD!!!
LISTEN HERE to 2025 Signal Award-Winning Episode 65 of the LawHer Podcast featuring Jennifer Gardner,
“Everything You Want: The Neuroscience of Power, Persuasion, and Getting to ‘Yes.’”
SOME OF MY FAVORITE TOPICS
HERE ARE A FEW OF MY MOST REQUESTED TOPICS FOR STAGES, WORKSHOPS, AND PODCASTS
(**Certified for MCLE credit)
- How to Win the Client, Close the Deal, and Lead the Room, Even When the Odds Are Stacked Against You.
- Persuading When Conflict Runs Hot, You're on the Defense, and the Stakes are High: A Framework for Winning the Spin During a Crisis.
- **Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How To Have Bad Facts, Bad Law And Still Win Your Case
- **The Art of Influence: The Seduction of the Jury and Surviving the Gauntlet Known as Trial
- **The Power Quotient: How Emotional Intelligence Transforms Good Enough Lawyers into Magnetic Leaders
- The Psychology of Power and Cultivating Internal Influence: Impacting the Psyches of your Listeners on an Unconscious Level With Your Words and Your Presence.
- Emotional Intelligence Is The Essential Skillset That Transforms Outcomes: How to Gain a Competitive Advantage in the Boardroom and the Courtroom by Mastering the Components of Emotional Intelligence.
- Achieving Peak Performance Under Pressure in High-Stakes Situations: How to use somatic practices to regulate your nervous system so that you maintain emotional intelligence and composure when it matters most.
- Creating Connection For Persuasive Impact: Leveraging strategic vulnerability, story and emotional connection as building blocks for success.
- What To Do When Emotions Are Coming At You! Controlling the message when the house is on fire.
- Building Trust and Likability To Optimize Outcomes When Nobody Trusts Nobody Anymore.
CATCH MY BEST CONVERSATIONS ON SPOTIFY:
A LITTLE ABOUT ME
Exhausted from endlessly negotiating with me, my parents figured they'd channel that 'natural ability' by sending me to law school.
When I first started out, I won the unwinnable cases no sane lawyer would take. No one was more surprised than me that I pulled this off. I wondered what I was doing "right".
NEUROSCIENCE + PERSUASION x TRUST = RESULTS
As both a litigator and a hearing officer, I've tried and/or decided 100 cases, trained with leading trial experts and somatic practitioners, interspecies communicators and theatre directors, and earned certifications in influence, persuasion, leadership, and applied neuroscience for business.
And now I lead workshops that help lawyers and leaders become maximally persuasive communicators and use their words and presence as a force for good.
This is precisely the human edge professionals need to maintain a competitive advantage in today's AI-driven world.
WHAT THE AUDIENCE SAYS:
“Thank you for the great program. I wish you could have gone on for a few more hours!”
- Ruth Holmes, C.D.E. and Jury Consultant
“Wonderful course. Fascinating, entertaining, highly creative.” - Matthew S., Esq.
“I commend you for your outstanding program and excellent presentation. It was very interesting and informative. Thank you for the program and the effort that went into presenting it. It was one of the best I've seen.”
IN THE NEWS!
Read more about my work here:
Rethinking Leadership, Influence, and Purpose - Wharton Executive Education, Sept. 2025
Visionary Educators Leading the Charge, MSN News, 2025
RECENT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
“The Unwritten Skills: Persuasion, Politics, & Presence in the Legal World.” Koa Counsel, May, 2026.
The Colorado Supreme Court, Legal Entrepreneurs for Justice: “Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How You Can Have Bad Law and Bad Facts and Still Win Your Case.” March, 2026; February, 2025
Scientific Association of Forensic Examiners - Annual Meeting Conference, October, 2025
The California Academy of Attorneys for Health Care Professionals: “Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: The Power of Story to Influence and Persuade.” September, 2024
CLE, Esq./West Legal Education: “Power And The Art of Influence For Lawyers,” October 2022
Attorney Credits: “The Art of Influence: The Seduction of the Jury and Surviving the Gauntlet Known as Trial,” 2021
ProLaw CLE: “Trial Mastery: Essential Preparation and Survival Skills for Trial Lawyers,” June, 2020
Transportation Lawyers Association - Annual Meeting, “How Legal Professionals Can Leverage Social Media,” June, 2019
Are we already booked for a speaking engagement? Then you'll need these:
Jennifer's Bio & Headshots
SHORT BIO:
Jennifer B. Gardner, Esq. brings a dual perspective to communication training, having spent over three decades both persuading as a trial attorney and being persuaded as a judicial decision-maker. Her neuroscience-backed approach combines the psychology of influence with a heart-centered methodology, transforming how professionals connect, persuade, and lead.
Jennifer delivers transformative MCLE seminars, corporate workshops, and conference presentations that reveal the invisible dynamics separating winning communicators from the merely competent. Her practical frameworks help lawyers, leaders, and professionals build authentic influence - not through manipulation, but through genuine human connection backed by cutting-edge brain science.
LONG BIO:
Jennifer B. Gardner, Esq. combines over 30 years of trial advocacy experience with certifications from the Wharton School in Using Neuroscience to Deliver Better Business Results, Executive Presence and Influence, Business/Corporate Communications and Leadership, and Women's Executive Leadership. Business Strategies for Success to deliver transformative workshops, MCLE seminars, and conference presentations that show professional leaders the art and science of persuasive communication.
Through her signature program "The Power Lab" and specialized MCLE-accredited courses, Gardner helps lawyers, executives and leaders master the neuroscience of influence, develop compelling narratives from complex facts, build confidence and develop charismatic executive presence that deeply connects with others. Her unique perspective, as both a seasoned civil and criminal trial attorney and an Administrative Law Judge for Los Angeles County, enables her to provide practical, battle-tested strategies for
Book me for your next conference or podcast, and I'll show your audience how to use their emotional intelligence and the unwritten communication strategies that build trust and amplify irreplaceable human skills, so that they achieve more success with less stress.
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