Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Mitch Jackson and I would like to welcome you to TrialLawyerExpert.tv. Trial lawyers are not mind readers. Despite what most of us think, we really don't have a clue about who's sitting in the jury box and what buttons we need to push to connect with individual jurors. Now this fact first became crystal clear to me about 22 years ago after watching a mock trial and a mock jury deliberate while being video recorded for the audience. The things the jury talked about and thought were important were in many instances quite different than what the lawyers in the audience believed was important. Watching the jurors and listening to their conversation left many of us scratching our heads and reevaluating how we could better understand what our jurors needed to see and hear to find in our favor after a trial. So what did we come up with? What method did we craft to allow us to get a better idea about the facts or issues that are important to our jurors? Well before I share our little secret, let me first say that most trial lawyers never do this. They're so busy telling the jury what they want the jury to hear that they never find out what the jury needs to hear and there's a difference. So here goes. You want to find out what's important to your jurors? All you have to do is ask them. During jury selection, I simply ask my jurors what facts they would need to see or hear to find in my client's favor on one or more of the critical issues. This starts a constructive and meaningful dialogue that helps me figure out what my jury needs to hear. Here's an example. Let's say you're representing a family of a husband who was tragically killed in a collision caused by a drunk driver. Now one of your goals in the trial is to obtain a multi-million dollar jury verdict to help compensate the surviving family members for their loss, to help take care of the family for the rest of their lives. During the voir dire process and after developing rapport with your potential jurors, you may want to ask juror number five the following question. This is Jones. We've talked a bit about money damages and what California law provides for the surviving family members in a wrongful death case. Now based upon what you've been told about the facts in this case and what we've already talked about this morning, what evidence would you need to see or hear in order to feel comfortable with awarding members of the Smith family substantial money damages for the harm that they've experienced? Here's the tricky part. You have to stop talking and start listening. Listen carefully to what juror number five tells you. And while you're listening, watch your other jurors. Watch their reactions. Watch their body language. If juror number five tells you that she would need to learn more about the relationship between the family members or the deceased husband and his children, then you should take note of this fact and modify your presentation of the evidence accordingly. Chances are she's not the only juror who feels this way. You should ask the who, what, when, where, and why follow-up questions while incorporating other jurors into the conversation. You should combine general questions to the entire jury panel to see if everyone feels the same way. Smart trial lawyers will ask other jurors what else besides the relationship that they need to learn more about before awarding substantial money damages. For example, one juror may respond with, I would need to be convinced that your client and the decedent were happily married and would have spent the rest of their lives together. Another might say the amount of money I would award would be directly related to the quality of the relationship between the decedent and his children. Both good comments. In response to all of these comments, you can fine-tune the presentation, emphasis, and length of your evidence and testimony during the trial to satisfy your juror's self-created on- or off-point needs. By the way, don't try to argue or convince a juror that you don't need to prove this or that fact. He or she has just told you what they want you to show them. So show them. Most of the rest of the jurors probably feel the same way. Make a mental note and within the ground rules of trial, simply provide the testimony they asked you to produce. Now here's a little trick I like to use. Build rapport and bond with your jury by asking them to live up to their promise if you do the same. For example, you might ask the following type of question. If the Jones family shows you that they had an unbelievably close personal relationship with their deceased father, would you then feel comfortable following the law and awarding substantial money damages? Now after getting a yes from juror number 5, move on to the next juror and obtain his pledge to follow the law using a slightly modified but similar question. Next you might want to ask a general question to the entire jury panel and while raising your hand, ask all of your prospective jurors to raise their hands if they would be comfortable awarding substantial money damages if you show them during the trial facts supporting the issues they earlier told you they needed to see or hear. If you've gone about this process correctly, in a gradual fashion, one spoonful at a time, you'll know exactly what your jurors need to hear and see in order to give you what you want. Don't fight it, relax, enjoy the process. Use this valuable information as a road map to help guide everyone in the courtroom to the outcome you're looking for. Well that's about it for today's video. If you haven't done so already, make sure to get on my Trial Lawyer Expert email list for exclusive updates not found anywhere else. If you want to make sure not to miss the next video, then please subscribe to my Trial Lawyer Expert blog feed. I recommend that you use the email option. What happens is you'll automatically get a short note sent to your email inbox when my next video is posted. If you have a couple of minutes and you'd like to stay in touch and connect, then I'd also like to invite you to join me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus using the links found at my site. Please keep in mind that if you liked the trial tips presented in this video, make sure to share them with other lawyers who you feel might also benefit from this information. I post new trial lawyer tips videos at the start of each week and so until next Monday, thanks for stopping by and remember to always make today your masterpiece.