MOCK TRIALS

Our experience with mock trials spans decades. In that time, we have conducted mock trials on virtually every area of civil litigation in cases venued across the country. Our experience includes a broad range of topics including complex business litigation, product liability, personal injury, intellectual property, antitrust, employment, construction, RICO, insurance bad faith, toxic tort and professional malpractice cases involving medical, legal, and accounting professionals.

Jury Focus Groups and Issues Studies allow you to narrowly focus on specific subsets of your case. These jury research designs are typically shorter than mock trials and they are used early in the litigation cycle to test and refine specific aspects of the case. Jury Focus Groups and Issues Studies can be used to get an early evaluation of jurors' reactions to the case in order to focus discovery, direct the identification of witnesses, highlight juror learning opportunities, and focus witness preparation sessions.

• Identify the issues that are most salient with jurors
• Clarify educational opportunities 
• Understand areas of potential juror confusion
• Test and refine focused portions of your case

We all understand the world through stories. Trial theme development and persuasive messaging involve identifying the issues, evidence and anchors that help jurors understand and adopt your view of the case. Once the impactful elements of the case are identified, they are woven together in a coherent and persuasive message. Trial themes provide the overall structure for all elements of the case; including voir dire and jury selection strategy, opening statement, closing argument, preparation and examination of witnesses, and development of trial graphics and courtroom demonstrative exhibits.

Not all trial budgets permit mock jury research. In those cases, Decision Strategy consultants work with you to develop your trial themes and refine your messaging. This may include

• Drafting opening statements to provide a roadmap for jurors
• Developing messaging opportunities with your key witnesses
• Identifying areas of cross-examination that reinforce your trial story
• Drafting closing arguments that support the trial themes and provide jurors with a language to use in deliberations

Preparing witnesses for deposition or trial testimony is approached in collaboration with the trial team. Decision Strategy consultants with backgrounds in psychology, human behavior, and communication help witnesses deliver their messages to juries in a clear and persuasive manner.

Our Experience

Our experience includes preparing all types of witnesses, including:

• Top-level corporate executives
• Claims managers
• Doctors
• Lawyers
• Experts that must educate lay jurors about technical issues
• Corporate representatives
• HR executives
• Political officials
• Anxious witnesses that talk too much or have difficulty listening to questions
• Angry witnesses that lose credibility because they fight with opposing counsel 

Jury selection involves a different way to look at your case and your client. Jury selection is the time to identify the jurors that are likely to be least favorable to your case. Decision Strategy consultants identify these jurors through the development of case specific voir dire questions and written questionnaires. We have attended jury selections in a both state and federal venues across the country. During voir dire, we evaluate prospective jurors, identify the jurors least likely to favor our case and advise clients on strike challenges.

Our Experience

Decision Strategy consultants have experience in jury selections involving almost every conceivable set of rules governing jury selection. We have assisted in the evaluation of jurors on:

• Federal cases in which no attorney voir dire was permitted, with judges that were reluctant to accept any suggested voir dire questions
• State court jury selections that have lasted over a week, with extensive attorney conducted individual voir dire
• Federal judges who allow only 3 peremptory strikes per side to state judges that have allowed as many as 19 peremptory strikes per side
• Jury selections that were completed with no attorney voir dire in under two hours
• Standard written juror questionnaires provided by the court, focused one-page case specific questionnaires and lengthy juror questionnaires that were completed and returned to us for evaluation well in advance of trial

Venue Surveys collect data on a large, statistical samples that represent the venire for your case. Venue surveys may be conducted as either telephone surveys or online surveys. The results may be used to develop a profile of persons most and least receptive to your case. This profile can be used to in jury selection to guide the development of voir dire questions and a written juror questionnaire. Ultimately the jury selection profile informs strike decisions during jury selection.

When pre-trial publicity or the nature of the case issues suggests changing venue, a multi-venue survey is invaluable in supporting your motion for a change of venue. Change of venue surveys provide the ability to draw statistical comparisons between alternate venues. Change of venue surveys allow you to:

• Assess the level of bias or pre-judgement in your venue
• Identify an alternative venue that provides relief from bias or prejudgement
• Build a record for appeal
• Form a basis for the judge to provide concessions to address the bias, such as increased peremptory challenges, additional attorney conducted voir dire, extended individual voir dire, and/or a written supplemental juror questionnaire

In venues where local rules permit interviewing jurors at the conclusion of a case, we conduct in-depth interviews with jurors in order to better understand what drove their deliberations. These jury interviews are invaluable in serial litigation in which similar issues and witnesses will appear in future trials.

Post-trial juror interviews typically take the form of individual phone interviews. These interviews provide a chance for one-on-one feedback about the case from each juror's perspective. As an alternative to individual juror interviews, we have reassemebled jurors into a post-trial focus group. This format allows for an assessment of the group dynamics that were at play while the jurors were deliberating.

Trial monitoring involves having a Decision Strategy consultant attend all or part of a trial to provide ongoing feedback and identify areas in which jurors may be confused. Shadow juries take this to another level and include a small group of shadow jurors that attend all or part of a trial and provide feedback to the Decision Strategy consultants and trial team.

Decision Strategy consultants that attend trial provide identification and assessment of the:

• Impact of opening statements
• Trial themes presented by opposing counsel and areas of weakness in these themes
• Topics that may have created juror confusion and identification of the opportunities to educate and persuade jurors