This handbook contains techniques and strategies to assist attorneys through the steps of a jury trial from jury selection, witness training, and opening statements through direct and cross-examinations, objections, and closing arguments. Jury voir dire is extensively covered, including discussions on questioning potential jurors, selection strategies, ethical considerations, and the client’s role in the process. Detailed discussions include detecting juror bias through focus groups, community attitude surveys, and questionnaires; training lay witnesses with varying personalities from anxious to evasive to argumentative; working with expert witnesses including executives and medical personnel; and interviewing witnesses after the case’s conclusion. The handbook also contains a sample engagement letter for a trial consultant and numerous sample post-verdict juror interview questions on topics ranging from general impressions of the case to issues of damages.
Chapter 1 — Understanding Trial Psychology
Michael Carter, David Starshak, and Carson Gordon, Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates; and Charles Faulkner, Influential Communications, Inc.,Amy L. Segami, Segami Studios and Consulting, Chicago
Chapter 2 — Selecting Jurors in the 21st Century
Jeffrey J. Kroll, Kaveny + Kroll, LLC,Chicago
Chapter 3 — Witness Effectiveness Training
Cindy K. Andrews, Firehorse Trial Consulting, LLC, Clarendon Hills
Chapter 4 — Jury Voir Dire
Lyndsay A. Markley, The Law Office of Lyndsay A. Markley, Ltd., and Elizabeth Casey, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani,Chicago
Chapter 5 — Post-Verdict Interviews
Richard L. Miller II, Miller PC, Chicago
Chapter 6 — Working with Trial Consultants
Richard L. Miller II, Miller LLP, Chicago
Chapter 7 — Ethical Considerations in Jury Trials
Sari W. Montgomery, James A. Doppke, Jr., and Stephanie L. Stewart, Robinson Stewart Montgomery & Doppke LLC, Chicago
