Dear Lawyers

Jury Duty is over.  I tried to explain the case to Rob the night the trial ended (at midnight) and it was hard.  I've was so invested in it for a month that I had trouble condensing the story.  It was interesting participating in a civil case because we are conditioned to think "beyond reasonable doubt" when we hear about trials and cases.  In a civil trial all you only need a preponderance of the evidence.  Basically, the Plaintiff has to tip the evidence scale in their favor by only the slightest margin (we're talking 51% is sufficient here).  It seems like this would make deciding easier on a jury but it actually makes it much, much harder.  It's much less cut and dry.  This particular case was a lot of 'she said' vs 'she said' which also made it hard.  It took our little jury of 8 about 18 hours to decide the verdict.  In the end, although I'm not convinced beyond reasonable doubt, I feel like we made the right decision.

It was a really interesting experience.  You sit in a courtroom all day and hear conflicting evidence from both sides and then have to sort through it to find the facts that are relevant to the case.  I am thoroughly convinced that most lawyers need jury consultants to teach them how to behave in front of a jury.  Sometimes they were ridiculous.  In honor of my experience, I am writing a letter to all lawyers that may chose to read this blog (although I'm pretty sure there will be none).

Dear Lawyers,

Much like you, we are trying to do our job.  We have emotions and functioning minds just like you do.  We care about the case and care about making the right decision.  We have to sit in the courtroom all day and listen to long drawn out explanations from expert witnesses, objection after objection, and question after question (many repeated multiple times even though we got it after the first) just like you.  The only difference?  We get paid far, far less than you.

While we understand that you will want to get an idea of how we react to certain issues and get a feel for how we will decide the case, turning your chair completely toward the jury box and staring blatantly at us while taking copious amounts of notes makes us uncomfortable and is ridiculous.

Also, turning your shoulders away from the judge so he can't see you making faces when your opponents  cross-examine a witness is unprofessional and rude.  You should probably cut that out.

Coming unprepared to court is equally unacceptable.  We don't want to wait  for 20+ minutes while you shuffle and organize papers.  You've had 7 years on this case....get it together.

Your witnesses are like students.  While they are on the stand and you are questioning them, the courtroom is your classroom.  Please, PLEASE explain to them the rules and procedures of the courtroom.  Any good teacher knows they will have good control over their classroom if they manage it correctly.  The same is true for you.  Explain to them they need to answer the questions asked and only the questions.  They will listen.  Explain to them they need to wait for the judge to make rulings when questions are objected to.  They will listen.  Explain to them that talking over the top of the judge or another lawyer is rude.  They will listen.  If they don't....fix it.  Even if you have to say something in front of the jurors.  Fix it.

If you have assistants, or other lawyers on your team, they should be respectful even if they are not currently participating in the process.  We, the jurors, have a great view.  We can see the faces and snide remarks being made, texting being done under the table, and can obviously hear cell phones vibrating and going off during the trial.  You should stop that as well.

Last, but not least: don't waste our time.  We have families, jobs, and plenty to do.  We are here as a service to the justice system.  We take our time seriously.  You should take our time seriously too.  We don't need to listen to hours of background on witnesses.  Explain their field, establish their credentials quickly and move on.  We can look at their qualifications during deliberation if we don't believe you.  We want to get to the dirt.  We want to hear about the case.  We do not need to know every school and every job the person has ever held.  This is similar to filling out job applications.  If you are applying for a job as a secretary, those hiring don't care that you spent the summer as a lifeguard when you 14.  Neither do we.  We know what is relevant and what is not.  Don't try to make someone seem cooler than they are by spending 2 hours building them up as an expert.  We are adults.  While everyone on the jury may not have equal education to you, we are not children.  We are capable of understanding what is presented to us.  Treat us as if you believe that.

Sincerely,

Juror #4