Our jury research services are superior in three important respects. We select our mock jurors randomly (just like the courts do), we conduct our focus groups in a series, and we make the process affordable.
Our report of the research findings then provides specific recommendations to refine arguments and design visual aids for optimal effectiveness.
Roundtable Research
Used immediately once a high-exposure case is identified, the sessions require only a brief outline of the case. The focus is on allowing the jury participants to pose questions and discuss the issues in an open-ended environment. The result is akin to a discovery outline identifying the relevant questions to be asked in discovery, as well as what the important (good and bad) answers are.
These "guerilla" sessions provide a glimpse into the minds of jurors and help shape and focus discovery efforts. They can be used throughout the discovery process to test the significance and impact of new information as it becomes available and to provide ways in which the focus can be re-directed to compensate, recover, and advance the trial team's story.
Focus Groups
In general, the focus groups explore the effectiveness of individual arguments and visual aids, breaking each down into specific components of style and content in light of the trial. Additionally, our research examines:
- Who potential jurors think should prevail
- What arguments are most compelling (or confusing)
- What would make jurors change their minds
- The effectiveness of witnesses and counsel, and
- What potential damages/liabilities exist
Our report of the research findings provides specific recommendations to refine arguments and design visual aids for optimal effectiveness.
Mock Trials
A full-day mock trial is useful for evaluating trial strategy and tactics in a more realistic and trial-like setting. These groups are particularly valuable as a final dress rehearsal and research step, after the focus groups have identified the most salient issues from the jurors' perspective.
Witness Evaluations
We videotape each session so deponents/witnesses have a clear understanding of how they come across during questioning. This serves as a compelling rationale and basis for behavior change.
We customize our communications training to optimize individual strengths and improve personal weaknesses for both the deposition process and courtroom appearances.
Community Surveys
To ensure the legal team can rely on the data for critical legal decisions, it is important to make these studies beyond scientific reproach. We conduct telephone interviews with the statistically appropriate number of randomly selected individuals from separate households in the jurisdiction.
This produces an overall sampling error rate of + 2% at a 95% confidence interval.
That means, 95 out of 100 times, the results would differ by no more than 2% in either direction if we had interviewed every household in the area.
This public opinion data can help the legal team assess community sentiment toward the parties and generate a jury selection profile to aid in selecting jurors who are most open to the facts of the case and their client. Additionally, the survey results help prioritize those arguments that are most persuasive to specific demographic groups and the individuals (potential jurors) that make up those groups.
We provide a comprehensive final report and a detailed face-to-face presentation of the results. The report includes a jury selection profile, a prioritized list of persuasive arguments, and a detailed picture of community concerns surrounding the trial.
Jury Selection
Informed striking of jurors can provide the edge, especially when fulcrum issues have been identified by earlier research exercises. Therefore, these services are most effective when used in conjunction with one or more of our other research protocols. The Best Evidence team offers two levels of jury selection services which take advantage of statistical analysis of specific case issues as well as a large proprietary database created from polling questions presented to actual jurors before each research project.
- Scripting of Voir Dire Questions
- A script is prepared which elicits jurors’ beliefs on fulcrum issues as well as acts as a indoctrinating voir dire; and
- In-Trial Assistance by Senior Staff
- In addition to providing a script, a senior, Ph.D. level staff member assists the trial team in court by adding a social science perspective to jury selection decisions.
Shadow Juries
Best Evidence provides nationwide recruitment, placement, and monitoring/analysis of shadow juries in the courtroom to observe trial proceedings and provide twice-daily feedback to the trial team.
For high exposure cases, this service provides tremendous value by identifying and making available real-time feedback to the team on effectiveness of witnesses, arguments, and overall case strategy. Shadow juries can be selected to match the selected jury as closely as possible in terms of demographic and experiential characteristics.
During the lunch break and at the conclusion of each court day, we debrief shadow jurors individually and in a group setting to measure the strengths and weaknesses of the presentations and witness performance as the trial progresses. This ongoing feedback is immediately made available to the trial team. This enables the trial team to strengthen arguments and themes already resonating with jurors as well as addressing weaknesses and clearing up confusing issues as they emerge. Additionally, remote parties anywhere in the world can view and participate “live”, via a secure, streaming video webcast requiring only an Internet connected computer and speakers. Juror-validated feedback allows the team to assess the progress of the case from a more relevant perspective in order to make more informed decisions about settlement and strategy during the course of trial.