The Trial Practice Tips Blog

Gerry Spence: Voir Dire Example

From Paul Luvera at Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips: "Gerry Spence Voir Dire Questions."

According to Luvera, his examples illustrate what "a great lawyer can do with limited time" to interact with the whole jury panel.

The iPad and Jury Selection

At the Persuasive Litigator, Ken Broda-Bahm reviews two apps, iJuror and Jury Duty, "based on their functional ability to replace paper notes, or other PC-based systems." Link from iPhone J.D.

Another Trial Tips Weblog

Some recent posts at TrialLawyerTips.com, which is primarily plaintiff-oriented:

• "Wrap Up Your Voir Dire With These Questions"
• "Blow Up and Use Your Verdict Form in Closing Argument"
• "During Closing Argument, Always Remind the Jury That This is Their Only Opportunity To Right a Wrong and To Compensate Your Client For Her Losses"

Thanks for the heads up to the weblog's authors, Mitch Jackson and Lisa Wilson.

Jury Selection: a List of Rules

At Mark Bennett's Defending People, you'll find "Simple Rules for Better Jury Selection."

The post is self-explanatory. Add it to your list of jury-selection references.

A Few Things to Know About Juries

In the April, 2008, issue of the Illinois Bar Journal, you'll find some interesting tidbits about juries in "Lessons from Jury Research," by Sara Parikh and Terrence Lavin.

Some examples--

• Juries care most about the "strength of the evidence" and make decisions on that basis, rather than giving in to pre-conceived biases or emotional appeals.
• Juries try to fit each bit of evidence into a "cohesive story"; if they can't do it, the evidence "tends to get dismissed or serves to reframe the story."
• Juries tend to discount expert testimony unless it is firmly rooted in the factual evidence.
• While lawyers must sometimes "emphasize and even repeat important concepts," juries quickly become frustrated by needless repetition.
• Even if jurors come to a trial with a particular bias in favor of the plaintiff or defense, these feelings are rarely so entrenched that they will predict the juror's decision about a particular case.

To learn more interesting lessons about juries, read the complete article at your nearest law library or online here (ISBA members only).

A New Set of Voir Dire Tips

In "Eight Tips for Better Voir Dire," John H. Mathias, Jr., weighs in with some good voir dire tips for the ABA Litigation Section. Here are the tips--

• Leave each prospective juror feeling good about answering your questions;
• Never talk down to any prospective juror;
• Beware of the "evil eye";
• Use voir dire to get the jury to embrace your expert witnesses;
• Ask potential jurors if they like crossword puzzles;
• Find out whether potential jurors are victims or individualists;
• Break the ice for a large damages claim;
• Don't ask silly questions just to please a jury consultant.

Read the full article to get the tips explained, then print it out to add to your voir dire file. The tip about experts is especially good reading.

Credit for the link goes to Celia Elwell, a paralegal in Oklahoma City who complies useful links for a widely-read email.

Blawg Review #127: A Roundup with a Jury-Selection Twist

Milwaukee trial lawyer and jury consultant Anne Reed gives the latest issue of Blawg Review a jury-selection twist in Blawg Review #127. The roundup of law-related weblog posts is organized around a set of reminders about jury selection, as follows:

• Assume nothing;
• Look for leaders . . .
• . . . and dissenters;
• Watch for points of view;
• Look for skills;
• Notice how they process information;
• Know what generational differences mean, and don't;
• Pay attention to the quiet ones;
• Remember they have lives;
• Not all jurors are like you;
• Some just want to get back to work;
• Learn the publicity, whether it's national . . .
• . . . or local;
• They want the big picture;
• If you're lucky, you'll have a juror artist;
• Make a good impression; and
• Remember the majesty.

Check it out. And remember that the Blawg Review weblog has information about next week's host and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.

Jurors Who Lie During Voir Dire: Trips for Drawing Them Out

Here's a post to read when you're gearing up for your next voir dire: "When Jurors Lie, Part II." It's from the Deliberations blog, written by Anne Reed.

When you're finished reading Reed's tips for exposing jurors who are lying to you about their biases, you can continue reading Deliberations for "law, news, and thoughts on juries and jury trials."

Avoiding Jury Duty -- Do's and Don'ts

Here's a little humor, if you want to call it that, from Dave Swanner's South Carolina Trial Law Blog: "How Not to Get Out of Jury Duty." Pretty unbelievable.

Jury Consultants: A Critical Look at Psychology Today

Even if jury selection remains a crapshoot, the process has come a long way since the days of Clarence Darrow, who counseled that Presbyterians are often "cold as the grave," Baptists even "more hopeless," while Irishmen are the opposite, "emotional, kindly and sympathetic"

In the current Psychology Today, the new science of jury selection gets a critical look in "Unnatural Selection," by Matthew Hutson--

Jury consulting has become a big business over the past three decades. Hundreds of firms now rake in several hundred million dollars a year. Many offer "scientific jury selection" services, deploying demographics, statistics, and social psychology to cull potential jurors and engineer the perfect panel of people. But as these gurus aim to extract sure verdicts from parties of unknowns, their grasp on the chemistry of human nature appears to require a working knowledge of alchemy . . .. Despite all the money and research poured into predicting and shaping jury decisions, to a large degree the state of the art remains just that: art.

The alchemists who practice the art, however, think it's more: they call it "applied psychology." About half of jury consultants are psychologists. The others are "hail from a variety of fields—business, law, marketing, communications, theater, statistics."

For anyone interested in jury selection, "Unnatural Selection" provides a good overview of how jury consultants work and what they're looking for in jurors.