How Do You Reach Today’s Jurors?

Excerpted from The Litigation Manual: Jury Trials

Edited by Weyman I. Lundquist and Alyson Pytte

Jury Participation and Involvement

1. Make your material relevant to the jury. Since self-interest is the number-one reason anyone does anything, understand what jurors need from you. Understand their job as decision makers. It is very scary. They want to be right, to feel secure and reassured in their judgment. So you must continue to show how your information will help them come to a conclusion. Always introduce each new area by telling them why they need to know it—how it will prove or show them new dimensions of the case, or clarify what the other side contends.

2. Edit, emphasize, and prioritize. Be ruthless in your self-editing; what three or four basic facts make all the difference? Be sure they understand what the issues are by emphasizing your three major points not only on visuals but also by repeating a word or phrase, or using alliteration or a memorable slogan or catch phrase. Tell the jury what to do by using an introductory line: “Remember this point,” or “This is really important,” or “What I say next are the three most basic points in this case,” or “Now we come to the best proof of our case.” When you emphasize something, you involve them in listening, remembering, and becoming especially attentive to certain facts.

3. Use rhetorical questions. Instead of a constant stream of talking at them, start new segments by asking a question of them: “Now, why would he do that? Why would anybody do that?” or “The next question that raises is, when they started changing the engine design, did they do enough research to make sure it was safe?” Questions are an automatic invitation to people to try to think of an answer. And rhetorical questions are very pleasing because jurors know you will also give them the answer right away.

4. Present live demonstrations whenever possible. Nothing is more exciting than seeing something live with your own eyes in court. Demonstrations not only involve the jury but are also much more credible and clear than pictures and diagrams. Always try to pass around to the jurors whatever object you are using, if you can, so they get a first-hand feel for it.

5. Explain depositions. For jurors to participate in and be impressed by the revelations and inconsistencies you present through depositions, they must first understand the process by which you got this information. Before you reveal the damaging testimony, set the scene. Ask the witness: “You remember coming to my office before the trial to answer some questions? I told you to ask me about anything you didn’t understand? You read through all your testimony at the end to be sure it was correct? And then you signed it? Is this your signature?” Then, and only then, can you impress the jurors with the full weight of the admission, contradiction, or change in testimony.

6. If they have been sitting a long time, provide a break. Notice fatigue or ennui, especially when you are ready to sail into something important. Either ask the judge for a recess or an innovative “May the jury just stand up and stretch for a moment, your honor?” Explain that you are aware of their fatigue. They will be grateful that you noticed and care about them, and are not just rolling along on your own momentum.

7. In final argument, review and then tie it all together. Help the jury remember the key issues and evidence in the trial with visual reminders—not just your slides and charts, but visual descriptions of the evidence and testimony that unfolded during the trial. Make witnesses and events come alive with “the clerk who broke down as he remembered the chaos he described,” or “that tall nurse who kept saying she didn’t understand my questions.”

Sponsoring Entity:

The ABA Section of Litigation Law