Jury Selction Trick: “Attitude” vs “Influence”

I stumbled across a trick a few years ago at a continuing legal education (CLE) class that summarized what we all do instinctively and I wanted to share it with you in this third installment of my voir dire tips blog series. Here is the trick that was articulated for us all at the CLE: … Read More

How to be Effective in Jury Selection: Introduce the Issues

In my last post I discussed my first tip for plaintiff attorneys in voir dire: letting an associate or paralegal take notes for you so that you can focus 100 percent of your effort and energy during jury selection on building rapport with the jury pool.  I believe, based on my experience, that developing rapport … Read More

“Open and Obvious” Conditions and Unreasonable Danger in Premises Liability

Instructing Potential Jurors about Open and Obvious Conditions An “open and obvious” condition is not a total bar to recovery in premises liability cases because to hold so would interfere with the purpose of comparative negligence statute. Indeed, the “open and obvious” defense is in fact the dfense of assumption of the risk. The law notwithstanding, this … Read More

The Reasonably Safe Premises Test in PL Jury Selection

It is important to address the duties of a landowner during voir dire in premises liability cases.  These duties include the duty to exercise reasonable care to make the premises reasonably safe for a business invitee.  The possessor must exercise reasonable care to protect customers from unreasonable risk of harm, including in areas that look … Read More

Juror Biases and Their Identification Process in Voir Dire

I love the fact that plaintiffs’ attorneys get to go first in Voir Dire. Going first means that we have the opportunity to direct and control the voir dire’s initial focus. If we start talking about the defendant’s bad behavior, the jury will analyze that side of the story. Because jurors’ natural instincts are to … Read More