Litigation

Getting Jurors to Sympathize with Your Client

From my friend Michael Maggiano's blog, which you can find here - http://www.atriallawyersjournal.com/

I have found that too often Jurors follow the attitude of my Dad who once said laughingly, "Do as I say, not as I do." I would like to share with you an interesting Jury Tip I received from Harry Plotkin, Jury Consultant of Claremont California.

Harry's points are relevant and real. One comment on Harry's use of the words "force them to think." I am sure he meant these words figuratively as you should not be forcing the jury to do anything in voir dire -- you have not earned that right. What I believe he means to impart is that by your voir dire questioning you invite the jurors to think of what people usually do and how they usually conduct themselves; what is the usual, what is that most people really do in day to day life, not an ideal, not a super or hyper vigilant person but the average everyday conduct of going about life. I hope you find this as interesting as I have.

For the rest of the blog post, check out Michael's new blog.

Full post as published by Trial Lawyer Resource Center on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).