How to argue your position

Evidence carries more weight when it is trustworthy

To be trustworthy, a document must come from a reliable and knowledgeable source and must not show signs of being altered. For testimony to be trustworthy, the witness must sound credible.

Look at these two examples and ask yourself which one is more likely to seem trustworthy to an arbitrator.

Ex. 1: “Fred Johnson has over 200 documented hours of classroom training in Hazardous Waste Disposal, and holds three certificates, including a Class 1 A. This information is available in his personnel file.”

Ex. 2: “My ol’ partner Fred can shovel more horse hockey drunk than most S.O.B.s can shovel sober, and I should know ’cuz me and him have been drunk on our tails in just about every town we ever spent time in.”

The first statement would probably sound more trustworthy to an arbitrator. Another way to say that is to say that the first statement is made in a more professional manner and uses quantifiable facts as evidence, not judgments or appeals to emotion.