Best — continued from Previous Page
preparation. Some trial lawyers use jury consultants and some don’t. At the very least, I like to have a jury consultant sit down with me for an hour or so and talk about the case, vetting themes and sug- gesting better approaches. Let’s face it, the jury consultants I meet with spend all year, every year, researching and under- standing social trends regarding trials: figuring out how juries respond to cer- tain issues, themes and types of people; studying verdicts; and interviewing jurors about why they made the decisions they did. I don’t spend most of my year doing those things. Therefore, I am a firm believer in obtaining the expertise of jury consultants at least in preparing my cases for trial. • Practice handling jury selection before you ever go pick the jury. People
will throw tough questions your way. You need to practice being real with them and not being evasive. You know when someone is lying to
you, why would you think that they don’t know when you are being evasive or less than honest in answering their questions? Walk into jury selection believing that the jurors will do the right thing. I learned this from one of my clients. To get your for-cause challenges, you
need to give people a safe place to express their honest opinions, you need to make sure they feel entitled to their opinions and you need to thank them for being honest. Think about your own life and relationships – if someone argues with you or makes you feel defensive, you shut down. That’s the opposite of what you want to have happen when you pick
a jury. You want people to feel comfort- able enough to share – that comes from being respectful and real. • Learn how to tell a story. Read Carl Bettinger’s “Twelve Heroes, One Voice” and learn how to lead and inspire a jury through telling a proper story and show- ing the jury how they can be the heroes. • Read and use Cliff Atkinson’s Beyond Bullet Points. With credit to David deRubertis and others, I suggest that you read and use Cliff Atkinson’s Beyond Bullet Points long before you prepare Powerpoint or Keynote presentations for mediation or trial. • Think through evidentiary issues and plan multiple ways to try to get evidence admitted at trial. Figure out what your key evidence is and make sure you are
See Best, Page 42
S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A ’ S P R E EMI N E N T P R O F E S S I O N A L L I A B I L I T Y D E F E N S E F I RM
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S PREEMINENT PROFESSIONAL LIABILIT Y DEFENSE FIRM
NEMECEK C LE
NEMECEK COLE Attorneys At Law
&
1 5 2 6 0 V E N T U R A B O U L E V A R D , SHERMAN OAKS, C A 91403
15260 VENTUR A BOULE ARD, SUITE 920 S H E R M A N O A K S , C A 9 1 4 0 3
S U I T E 9 2 0 T E L : 8 1 8 . 7 8 8 . 9 5 0 0 /TEL: 818.788.9500 / F X : 8 1 8 . 5 0 1 . 0 3 2 8 F A X: 818.501.0328 FR ANK W. NEMECEK* JONATHAN B. COLE* MICHAEL MCC AR THY W W W. N E M E C E K - C O L E . C O M
WWW.NEMECEK-C OLE .COM 40 — The Advocate Magazine FEBRUARY 2012 * Certified Specialist, Legal Malpractice Law, w, The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization
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