Do you think you can win over a jury with just your credentials and technical knowledge? More important is whether you are “likable,” says veteran appraiser and expert witness Henry J. Wise in his new book, It’s Only an Opinion: An Appraiser in Court. Sure, the members of the jury will listen to your qualifications and your testimony—for just a few minutes—and then they will get bored. “The jury isn’t really going to listen to and weigh all your cogent arguments,” he writes. “What the jury is really going to decide is whether they like you better than they like the expert on the other side. If they like you, they are more likely to trust you. If they trust you, they will be much more likely to accept your opinion.” Wise dealt mostly in real estate appraisals, but his book is of interest to appraisers in any discipline.