Jury consulting is a huge business that has been booming for past 20-30 years. Some firms invest millions of dollars in a year. Jury consultants are specialists in psychology or other social sciences. Lawyers take the assistance of jury consultants to find the best tactic about the trial. They help the lawyers to prepare arguments, select jury members, professional and expert assistance with the trial presentation and preparation of witnesses.
There are several reasons for hiring a trial consultant. For example how the jury will perceive a given piece of evidence. Determine the most moral way to present a child witness or to practice the case in advance to avoid any confusions or revelations. Trial consultants help can be required by lawyers at any stage of the trial process.
- Preparing witness for jury’s evaluation
- Preparing the strategy for case presentation and identifying key issues that can happen in the case
- Ways to present the complicated and sensitive evidence to the jury
- Preparing questionnaire to assist lawyers for evaluating potential jurors
- To persuade the jurors, they write the opening and closing statements
- Defining methods to question witness and evidence presentation to leave a powerful good impression on the jury.
There are several techniques used by the trial consultants as follows:
- Mock Trials: It allows the lawyers to present the case in front of group of people similar to jury
- Community surveys: It helps to evaluate the common response towards a particular matter in the case
- Written questionnaire for jurors: Done to assess the potential jury members
- Focus groups: A group of people is told regarding the case and their reactions are noted this gives an add on advantage to the lawyers to screen the attitude of the general public. It also provides the trial consultant to monitor the focus group closely and ask questions about why they feel the way.
- Videos and any media: Helps lawyers and witnesses to prepare the case and present it in the most favorable manner to create a positive impact.
- Interviews post-trial: To access and understand the decision given by jurors and reason behind it.
To gain a winning edge, lawyers are relying on jury consultants. Jury consultants are experts in analyzing human behavior that helps attorneys with the relevant research that provides the insight into the behavior of the juror.