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Recruiting jurors for mock trials or focus groups is the most important professional service Voir Dire offers. Why? Because the results of a mock trial or focus group are driven primarily by having a jury which realistically represents the potential "real” jury come the day of trial. Not all firms take the time and effort to recruit the way we do it. First of all, we do not use jurors who have ever participated in either a focus group or mock trial. Some firms use a rolodex where they go to "professional focus group participants” on a rotating basis. We do not believe that that kind of research is meritorious. It is important that our jurors be just like the ones you will have when you go to trial.
So how do we do it? Based upon conversations we have with you, we develop a screening instrument. This screening instrument removes jurors who would be struck for cause. Using computer generated random telephone numbers, potential jurors are called and asked to participate.
How do we avoid “stacking” the jury with retirees, students or individuals who are not employed? All of our jurors are paid and are paid well. We believe it important that we have attractive incentives so that we can recruit jurors who are employed, especially those work at high paying jobs. We also compensate jurors who may have to travel a great distance to participate.
In addition, we develop a matrix to determine what demographic profile may be most useful to you. It may be helpful to recruit multiple juries where we have a chance to pre-set specific demographic profiles. For example, in cases where men and women may have very different perspectives, such as breast implant cases, we may recruit three juries; one of women, one of men, and one more representative of the jury pool. All three juries would watch the same case, but would deliberate separately. The best jury mix is one constructed in consultation with the attorneys, who know, up front, what the key issues are and what demographic groups are likely to be pre-disposed one way or another.
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