Jury Selection | Best Evidence

Voir Dire Scripting and Jury Selection Support

No one knows Florida jurors like we do. Our experience observing lay Florida jurors deliberate verdicts has led to the development of The Best Evidence Method,℠ which represents the ongoing aggregation of our best thinking on jury selection and persuasion in high stakes litigation.

Our jury selection approach incorporates simple and effective lines of inquiry designed to address and influence jurors' perceptions of critical verdict issues, including, among others:

> Hindsight bias

> The "burden of proof"

> Causation

> Emotion vs Reason

> Evidence vs Argument

> Money for damages, and more

While our primary focus is on developing concepts with broad appeal, there will inevitably be prospective jurors that identify with our adversary, no matter how much time, effort, and creativity is spent on trial strategy.

The challenge is to identify and remove these individuals.

For this, we need better information than our opponents, and better techniques than have been developed in the past. This is where voir dire scripting based on the relevant metrics from JuCE, our Juror Classification Engine and our Juror Analytics Database comes in.

We continue to train and refine JuCE with data from thousands of jurors polled over hundreds of cases. To date, we have identified over 40 characteristics the most extreme-awarding jurors tend to have in common, and JuCE continues to uncover more.

Our scripting services can help identify and expose them.

Jury selection is about more than just statistics and asking questions however, and our in-trial jury selection assistance fills the gap. We work closely with trial counsel throughout the entire process, focusing on crafting the most direct lines of inquiry to uncover the most relevant perspectives, while at the same time establishing a consistent pattern of language to begin branding our message and theme to the jury.

We place special emphasis on generating for-cause strikes, and establishing and solidifying the credibility of our trial counsel with the jury.

Some of the techniques we teach and employ include:

Five characteristics extreme high-awarding jurors tend to have in common

The three rules you cannot break in jury selection

The five goals we remain focused on like a laser (and you should too!)

The best way to ask about bias if you want to protect a juror

Short circuit hindsight bias with this short series of questions

How to locate and nurture the leaders in the group

The 6 questions you must ask in jury selection

The simplest technique for identifying those most susceptible to emotional pleas/reptile

Build trust to build self-cause strikes

Using rhetorical questions to “telegraph” acceptable answers

Using proverbs, quotations and aphorisms to give your themes broader appeal

How to make the trial attorney appear to be a GUIDE through the evidence for jurors instead of a partisan hack

How to keep jurors talking – get them to tell you their biases and prejudices without having to probe

The 2 most important words in any malpractice or breach of duty case, and how to use them to your advantage

How to grab jurors’ attention and keep them alert and interested, even if it’s right after lunch

Cast doubt on the opposition’s expert witnesses when you use these voir dire questions

Use this technique when you know a prospective juror has a prejudice and refuses to admit it

Go beyond “gaining rapport”

What to do when a prospective juror says something devastating to your case

How to anchor a certain emotion or idea in voir dire, then repeat it so that a simple gesture can reinforce a key point through the trial

How to increase your chances of successful for cause challenges

No matter what your situation or time-frame, Best Evidence can assist you in your quest to seat the best panel possible.