In order to build a convincing legal case, attorneys must structure their arguments with their audience in mind. The jury comes with a limited knowledge of the law but a set of opinions, biases and prior knowledge of the parties that will no doubt influence their conclusions, even if they are advised to put those notions to the side. Continue reading
It has escaped precisely nobody that the new CBS drama “Bull” is playing a bit loose with the truth. In fact, that’s part of the joke. The title character is Dr. Jason Bull, played by Michael Weatherly, and he certainly looks quite a bit different than the real-life character he is based on: Dr. Phil McGraw. The idea is that he uses advanced technology and brilliant psychological insights to help the wrongly accused. Half CSI technology expert and half psychiatrist, he helps them develop bulletproof defense strategies and predict exactly how juries will react to the evidence and the testimony.
The jury selection process is an intriguing — and high stakes — venture into the subtle terrain of human nature. As you meet and interview all members of your venire, you’ll primarily be looking for reasons to de-select the individuals who bring a bias that will run against your case. Here are five factors that you should explore in the course of empaneling the most effective jury for your case. The jury pre-selection process is much more important than any post-trial juror activity, so you want to make sure you’re getting everything right the first time.
Much has changed in the world of trial consulting over the years. These changes have included large increases in overall services and even putting more focus on factors outside of the jury. When looking at the trial consulting over the last decade, however, it becomes obvious that technology has created the biggest shifts in trial consulting.
Before understanding how significant of an effect technology has had on trial consulting, you must first recognize why such technologies were necessary. Americans sometimes have a propensity for creating solutions for nonexistent problems, but this wasn’t the case in the trial consulting world. In fact, the major issues came directly from professional legal experts themselves.
Imagine how much you know about your case that the jurors simply don’t have the appropriate education to understand. Once this issue is recognized, you can start using technology to improve your trial outcomes.
One of the greatest ways technology has affected trial consulting is by helping you to understand your audience. Sure there are spectators, bailiffs and even an opposing attorney in the courtroom, but they’re not your main audience. The jury needs to be your primary focus, and since they’re not trained in the world of law, it’s your job to speak to them in a language they understand.
One great innovation in trial consulting came thanks to the World Wide Web: online focus groups. Instead of figuring out the logistics of getting a few dozen people into a room at the same time, programs like Jury Confirm can handle everything online while still creating a realistic courtroom environment for your “jurors.”
It’s this type of technology that can help you speak to jurors in that mutually understood language. Too many attorneys are left saying “I can’t believe that’s important to them” or “I’m surprised they don’t understand that argument” after using online focus groups. Fortunately, this shows you where your shortfalls are, and from that point, you can figure out exactly how to correct them.
The difference in legal knowledge between you and the jurors is obviously an issue, but even something as simple as courtroom setup can cause your best points — no matter how well explained — to get lost in translation. The ability for trial jurors to be able to quickly see and comprehend visual evidence can sometimes be removed entirely due to courtroom setup.
Thinking deep into your trials, imagine for a moment that a juror cannot comprehend a visual exhibit because it’s excessively detailed. Even something as simple as being unable to see every word on a slide can stop jurors’ learning in its tracks. Just considering these two examples is enough to understand how big of a part courtroom setup plays in your case’s success.
As technology developed, however, even these issues started to fade away. By using the video, image and document presentation software in our courtroom/war room setup, you can ensure that jurors see the full picture every time. The presentation screen allows for interaction with the exhibit, so you and your witnesses can get the point across even more effectively.
Take a moment to learn more about our courtroom setup services and graphics consulting services.
The American legal system prides itself on the claim that justice is blind, but being blind means your eyes are closed. It means you’re at the mercy of others. What could be more terrifying than putting your case into the hands of 6–12 people you have never met and know nothing about?
Fortunately, you don’t have to live out that frightening scenario. Litigation consultants use their expertise to provide legal professionals and their clients with a look inside the mind of potential jurors. These insights include case perceptions, relevant analogies that will help get the point across and understanding individual jurors’ life experiences to better comprehend what impacts their attitudes.
This trial consulting overview provides only a snippet of what technology has done for the profession. Learn more about our jury consulting services to see how you can make your message crystal clear for the jury. And when you’re ready to take happenstance out of your case’s equation, contact us for a free case consultation to see how you can benefit from a litigation consultant.
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A chicago criminal lawyer learns a new language in law school. That language is dense with theory, legal jargon and even a few doses of Latin. While law students are encouraged to provide minute analyses of potential arguments or points at issue in every fact pattern, the legal practice areas are quite different, especially in a courtroom. In court, your audience is not a law professor, but a juror whose day-to-day life experiences may have little to do with the law or the subject matter of the case.
Lawyers must develop a rapport with jury members within the confines of trial rules, while clearly conveying their arguments to these decision-makers who may have no legal training. There may be only limited instruction on the technical aspects of the law. Understanding the unique perspective of jurors on a legal case is crucial to winning a verdict. To improve your chances for success, consider not only the strength of your argument but how to get your message across. To ensure that you are properly conveying your message, here are 3 trial strategy tips to consider.
Crime drama shows would have you believe that surprise witnesses can be called whose testimony rocks the very foundation of the courtroom. In reality, the deposition procedure prevents this from happening. The deposing of a witness is part of the discovery phase, and it takes place when an individual who will eventually testify is interviewed under oath but before trial. You can learn about depositions here if you are truly unsure on the matter and looking for valuable knowledge on how they work.
The deposition occurs after the filing of a summons and it serves several purposes. The primary purpose of a deposition is to find out what the witness knows. Every piece of evidence to be presented should be known prior to the trial’s beginning, and this includes witness statements. And although depositions are considered hearsay and inadmissible in a trial, their second purpose is to preserve testimony.
Collecting depositions is an integral part of any trial. This is why legal professionals should fully understand every step in the deposition process.
Overwhelmed by the jury selection process? The American Bar Association encourages attorneys to use the expert services of jury consultants due to the subtle nature of determining inherent bias in potential jurors. But it is still the responsibility of the lead trial lawyer to choose and manage the experts, to question the prospective jurors and to make the final decisions about challenges and strikes. So here are a few things to keep in mind.
Magna Legal Services provides real-time court reporting to help you review and refer back to a hearing or trial transcript instantly. With real-time court reporting, you don’t need to incur a delay waiting to note exactly what happened and how you should respond. Realtime court reporting allows you to work effectively and efficiently with your Austin attorneys. This service helps you keep your case on track and meet all necessary deadlines, and it minimizes the wait time for a resolution.
If a case goes to trial, you can rest assured that there’s an arduous process ahead of you. After all, if the case was as “open and shut” as you sometimes hope, there would’ve likely been a plea deal or settlement before it ever got to trial. Once a case ends up in the courtroom, everyone is on an equal playing field. No matter how great an attorney is or how obvious the eventual verdict seems, there are no guarantees. This is why legal professionals around the world now utilize jury consulting services to gain the upper hand.
Jury selection is perhaps the single most important component of court proceedings, especially in civil cases. Any mistake during this early step can literally make or break your case. Even worse, you may not realize you’ve made the mistake until it’s far too late to rectify the issue — and save your verdict.
To avoid any common mistakes, use these five tips to improve your jury selection for civil cases.
The last thing you want is to find out that your opponent has grounds for appeal because you made a mistake while selecting your jury. Even worse, since both parties can appeal a civil judgment, you’re not protected simply because you’re on the defending side of the courtroom, unlike in criminal cases.
Every state and local jurisdiction has its own set of rules for jury selection, but these are some of the most frequent and universally applicable:
In most cases the size of your jury will be 6 to 12 jurors, so make sure you’re planning your choices accordingly. Six is the de facto standard in most jurisdictions, but you’ll often have grounds to ask for a larger jury during negotiation with the presiding judge and your opponent counsel.
You’ll usually have to designate a pool of alternate jurors who will only take their place in the jury if a primary juror is removed or excused from the proceedings for some reason. Accordingly, you want to make sure your alternates are just as good a fit for your side as the primaries are because it’s perfectly possible they’ll become primary jurors themselves.
Both sides of the case will have a chance to ask jurors questions that might reveal why they’re biased or otherwise unfit to serve as an objective observer of the proceedings. In that case, you’ll have a number of chances to dismiss a juror for cause.
However, you’ll also have a set number of chances to dismiss jurors with a peremptory challenge, effectively “because we want to.” Make sure you’re not wasting a peremptory challenge on a juror if you can argue they should be dismissed for cause instead.
A juror profile lets you create a statistical outline of your most probable beneficial and detrimental jurors. Juror profiles can include basic information like simple demographic data, but for the best results it should also include information that’s tailored to your specific case. For example, if your case involves a specific industry, you’ll want to make sure your juror profile can identify prospective jurors who are likely to be sympathetic or antagonistic to players in that industry.
Juror profiling is a complex endeavor. Learn more about how juror profiling research can help you with the jury selection process.
Most of the jurors you’ll be in contact with are going to feel as if they’re suffering a burden because they were selected for jury duty. Accordingly, you need to ensure that you’re showing appreciation and respect for the time they’re being forced to give you. Doing so will establish a good relationship and can make them more likely to answer your questions honestly and openly.
Conversely, getting on a potential juror’s bad side can make them hostile to your case. In the worst scenario, they may even keep that hostility a secret and only reveal it by voting against you in the deliberation room.
Whatever the case, you’re going to struggle unnecessarily to elicit biases and disqualifying factors during juror questioning if they’re already hostile towards you.
In every jury selection process your goal is to find people who are clearly disqualified to objectively evaluate a case because they have some relation or connection to the case’s players or context. However, you also need to ensure you’re assessing their “one degree removed” experiences.
For example, if your case involves a large construction company, your first step is to find out whether a juror has any connection to the construction industry. But you’re not done there — you also need to find out how they’re connected to any one degree removed factors. For example, have they been involved in a civil lawsuit for a large company in any industry? Have they ever had a bad experience with home renovations, or plumbing, or even any contractor of any type?
Their answers to those questions could reveal a bias that’s worthy of dismissal.
Always remember that you’re not just monitoring the jurors’ biases, you’re monitoring yours as well. Be aware of any stereotypes that might be blinding you to the actual opinions of jurors.
By monitoring your own perceptions in those areas, you can ensure that you’re genuinely finding the best jurors, and not simply those you’d expect to be the best.
With proper planning and good execution, you can ensure you pick the jury that’s most likely to rule in your favor.
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Speak with a Magna Consultant to see how a jury consultant can assist you.
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