Jury Selection and Trial Services
Jury Selection & Trial Services
Jury selection and on-site trial consulting is an area that separates Delphi from other jury consulting firms. We view trial strategy and jury selection as a battle where key decisions can have outcome determinative consequences to a case’s value. Delphi has been involved in some of the country’s most challenging and complicated cases which enables us to have a deeper strategic toolbox than most other consulting firms.
We approach jury selection as a general would approach battle: setting a plan of attack through verified mock trial research, conducting background research on jurors, drafting strategic voir dire to identify jurors’ underlying biases, and monitoring the strike zone with a strategic understanding that enables us to outmaneuver the opposition.
After jury selection, we typically consult clients in a variety of areas, including assisting with opening statements and closing arguments, training witnesses for upcoming testimony, facilitating a shadow jury, and contributing to development of graphics.
We offer clients a wide array of Pre-Trial & Trial services tailored to their needs and may include:
Pre-Trial Services
Juror Profiles: Identifying Dangerous and Favorable juror characteristics through quantitative analyses of prior mock trial research and our database of case research.
Supplemental Juror Questionnaires: A supplemental juror questionnaire is universally helpful to gain a better understanding of jurors, but it is particularly important when sensitive case issues may prevent jurors from sharing their views during voir dire or when voir dire time is limited.
Juror Background & Social Media Research: Private Investigators experienced in jury pool research and with exclusive access to restricted databases prepare summaries of jurors in advance of jury selection. If time or budgetary constraints do not allow for the use of private investigators, then Delphi has a secondary option utilizing proprietary technology that can quickly provide research results for an entire prospective jury panel.
Strategic Voir Dire: There are traditionally four styles of voir dire: educational, advocacy, commitment, and bias identification. Delphi believes that identifying jurors’ underlying bias is critical to seating a panel that will be more willing and able to hear and accept our case narrative. We prepare voir dire based upon case issues to identify underlying juror bias, establish biased jurors for cause challenges, and preempt oppositional tactics. This approach can still include education, advocacy, and commitment questions, but we recommend the primary focus to be on the identification and elimination of jurors that may be biased against a client’s case.
Trial Services
Witness Training: The words witnesses use in depositions or at trial can be the most defining words for a case’s success or failure. Delphi consultants have worked with the full range of lay and expert witnesses from proud royalty, celebrities, and corporate executives to the circuitous engineers, software designers, and blue-collar workers. We regularly hear “this is the worst witness I’ve ever had,” but with doctoral degrees in Psychology and Communication we have developed techniques and experience to ensure a witness testifies effectively.
Opening Statements, Closing Arguments, & Graphics: With the advancement of digital media, jurors now learn visually more than in the past and they have come to expect graphics at trial as part of the evidence and arguments conveyed to them. We work with counsel to prepare persuasive opening statements and closing arguments to coordinate with graphics that maximize counsel’s persuasiveness with jurors.
Shadow Jury/Feedback Panel: At trial it is easy to get lost in the zealous pursuit of one’s case. Shadow jurors provide objective feedback during trial by identifying areas of weakness or strengths to improve counsel’s strategic decision-making in the courtroom. We interview jurors during breaks, lunch, and at the end of the day to offer counsel the ability to make real-time strategic changes to the course of trial.
Post-Trial Juror Interviews: The best lessons often come from listening to feedback from trial jurors. We interview jurors following trial to ascertain how they reached their verdict and prepare a report of our findings, which proves particularly valuable if clients have similar cases going to trial in the future.