Why Jury Consultants Might Be Added to Your Trial Team
Jury consultants play an important role in many highly publicized cases. But they are also used in lower-profile legal cases. If your lawyer wants to hire jury or trial consultants, you may wonder, “What can they do to help me?”
Here’s a rundown of how jury consultants assist attorneys in some trials.
Pretrial strategy. Picking a competent jury is one of the important services that consultants provide. Using scientific methods, they study the issues of a case and determine:
- The characteristics that make a juror sympathetic or problematic for the defence, and
- The most effective approach for presenting the case to different jurors.
In some cases, there’s an option of where to hold a trial. Consultants look at the populations of the possible venues and determine how prospective jurors might perceive the issues. For example, let’s say a local corporation just closed a factory, leaving hundreds of people without jobs. Jurors who live in the area might take their negative feelings out on another corporation they are asked to judge. So holding a trial in an alternative venue might be advantageous to a corporate client.
Once the venue has been set, jury consultants find mock jurors who reflect the people who live there. They might start this process by conducting a telephone survey of the attitudes and demographics in the area.
Ultimately, a mock jury should look like a real jury in that locality, so potential jurors would be rejected if they know one of the litigants, have a financial interest in the outcome of the case, or already have an opinion about the defendant’s guilt or liability.
After a mock jury is chosen, the members complete detailed questionnaires before watching a simulated trial and deliberating. The consultants study the questionnaires and review cases of juror behaviour to develop strategies to sway a juror toward a particular point of view.
Applying research to the trial. When the actual trial begins, jury consultants apply all the information learned to pick the jury. They can suggest the kind of questions to ask in “voir dire,” the process of interviewing prospective jurors. Certain questions help reveal jurors’ true attitudes and relevant life experiences that might affect their behaviour in the case. For example, consultants might advise your trial attorney to strike a prospective juror based on studies that show that people with the same kind of job tend to be negative about corporations or management.
| Some Ways Jury Consultants Might Be Able to Help Your Case:
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Some trial consultants provide a trained “shadow” or “mirror” jury outside the courtroom. This shadow jury is composed of people with similar characteristics to those on the real jury. Each day of the trial, the consultants interview the shadow jurors to see how they react to the evidence and testimony. They analyze the interviews to help trial attorneys assess a client’s position.
With or without a shadow jury, the consultants can keep track of things like how demonstrative exhibits communicate certain themes and whether the witnesses seem knowledgeable and trustworthy. While the lawyers concentrate on the legal issues of the case, the jury consultants keep an eye on the jury to make sure they are engaged and responding well to your side of the case.
Looking beyond a jury. Some lawyers also use media coaches who can provide important suggestions for presenting your case to the media. Publicity affects the ideas and decisions of judges and jurors. As those ideas spread to the general public, they can affect shareholder trust and financial health in a trial that involves your company.
Not always necessary: Keep in mind that not all trials need jury consultants. Attorneys have learned many of these skills through years of litigation and the techniques are taught in law school trial advocacy classes. However, in some cases, your attorney may believe that expertise in the psychology of juries is beneficial to the case and worth the cost.