A Jury Report That Cuts Through the Noise
The crucial value of curated communication in high-stakes trials
A bad jury research report is worse than no report at all if it is confusing, cumbersome, and complicates the jury selection process. Someone who has never picked a jury would be shocked at how quickly lawyers must decide who to keep and who to strike. In the most generous circumstances, I’ve seen judges allow up to an hour for a trial team to compare notes and confer – more commonly it’s only 15-20 minutes. No matter how much time the judge allows, decisions must ultimately be made in a matter of seconds during a process that carries the energy and urgency of a live auction. There is no time to stop and pore through a comprehensive, text-heavy dossier on each potential juror. That’s why less is more when compiling a jury report. A good report should contain only information relevant to strike decisions. It must be easy to read with just a glance and should fit on a single page. If a picture is worth a thousand words, an effective jury report should contain mostly images.
The most important data points for supporting quick decisions during jury selection are a profile photo, a street-view image of the juror’s home, and the juror’s political party affiliation. The profile photo is particularly valuable, if for no other reason than it helps a lawyer remember who the juror is. Unless the lawyer has a photographic memory, they may find it difficult to match the notes scribbled on a jury grid with the corresponding face. The jury report solves this. A street-view image of the juror’s home may provide the single best snapshot for encapsulating the juror’s socioeconomic conditions. While someone's political affiliations might not provide a window to their soul, knowing whether a potential juror is Republican, Democrat, or Independent might sway a crucial decision for a lawyer who is on the fence about using a preemptory strike.
The next most important data points for a potential juror are education and employment. Whether they attended college, and what they studied (and where), can provide insights into how a juror will approach the information they receive throughout trial testimony. During voir dire or in questionnaires, a potential juror may only reference their highest level of education. However, on LinkedIn, a Ph.D. engineer might reveal they studied philosophy as an undergraduate, or an accountant might share they served a tour as a Marine in Afghanistan. Like education, a juror’s occupation may suggest how they approach trial testimony. Their occupation also provides a clue into the juror's experience with money and finance, which is especially important when the lawyer asks them to award a significant amount for damages.
Beyond these key data points, the most important information comes from photos and memes that reveal the potential juror’s political, economic, and religious worldview. Do they post political opinions? If so, are they conservative or liberal? Do they post vacation photos? If so, did they hike to Machu Picchu? Or did they take a Carnival cruise? Are they religious? If so, do they play bass guitar with a tabernacle choir? Or do they post passages from the Old Testament? While much of this information may not be actionable on its own, when combined with what we’ve learned about a juror from voir dire, it helps create a broad impression that can support or refute a lawyer’s gut feeling about someone.
Now and again, we discover information that is directly relevant to the theme and theory of the case at hand. If a relative died in an automobile crash, we will share that, especially in a trucking case. When a husband is sponsoring a GoFundMe to pay his wife’s medical bills, we want to know, especially in a case that includes a life care plan. If a juror’s spouse works for the defendant, we definitely want to include that on the report. Aside from criminal history or prior involvement in a civil matter, most other information in the public record is trivia – and there is no place for trivial information on a jury report.
We live in a world awash with too much information. To function in this information age, we have learned to filter out the noise. However, as anyone who has missed an important email because it got buried by spam can tell you, there’s a cost to filtering out too much. That’s why most lawyers rely on a trusted paralegal or legal secretary to triage emails so they receive the important information without being burdened by unnecessary noise. That sort of information triage is even more important in court. A strategically crafted jury report, curated by a trusted consultant, can cut through the noise and deliver only the relevant information at a glance, making a crucial difference in a fast-paced, high-stakes trial environment.