Trial Tip: My Voir Dire Jury Experiment

I tried an experiment related to selecting the jury (voir dire) before my last three jury trials. The result? Three consecutive 12-0 verdicts.

This isn't something you commonly hear about in trial practice, but I want to share it because I think there's something to it.

I've had a morning meditation practice for many years. Before one of my trials, I decided to add a specific intention to that practice — starting 30 days before trial.

Every morning, I would set this intention: "When our trial begins, we will be sent the perfect panel of potential jurors and we will pick the perfect 12 jurors and 1 or 2 alternates for this case."

Once the jury was picked and I had my yellow pad with all their names and seat numbers, I changed the intention. Early each morning during trial, I would go through each juror individually. Juror number one, John Jones — I'm connected to you, you're connected to me. I set the intention that they would be open and receptive to our evidence and ultimately vote in favor of my client.

I did this every morning of the trial and during deliberations.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:

→ First trial: Plaintiff's business dispute. 12-0 verdict. Got every penny I asked for.

→ Second trial: Defense side, business contract fraud case. 12-0 verdict. Total defense verdict — plaintiff got nothing.

→ Third trial: Defense side, another business dispute. 12-0 verdict again.

Before these three trials, I'd had verdicts of 9-3, 10-2, 11-1. But never three unanimous verdicts in a row.

Could it be happenstance? Maybe. Could it be that my skills developed over the years? Possibly.

But I think there's something to the interconnectivity of energy. When you focus your intention on something consistently, it may have an impact on what happens.

At the very least, by the time that jury panel walked in, I felt a better connection with them from the start. And that feeling carried through the trial.

Something to think about for your next case.

I discussed this experiment in the recent episode of my Trial Alchemy™ podcast. To watch and listen to what I said, click above. 

To listen to the entire podcast episode:
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Mediation, Arbitration & Referee Services

Monty McIntyre helps attorneys and their clients throughout California as a mediator, arbitrator and referee at ADR Services, Inc. He handle business, commercial, employment, insurance (bad faith, coverage, UIM), probate, real property, and tort cases. He has been a California civil trial lawyer since 1980, a member of ABOTA since 1995, has tried over 100 cases and he's represented both plaintiffs and defendants in the areas listed above. To schedule a new matter, please contact one of Monty's case managers at ADR services, Inc.:
Haward Cho, haward@adrservices.com, or
Rachael Boughan, rboughan@adrservices.com, (619) 233-1323.  

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Do well and be well.  

Best regards,
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Mediator, Arbitrator & Referee at ADR Services, Inc.
Lawyer Mentoring™: Trial training and associate acceleration
Podcaster: Trial Alchemy™
Publisher: California Case Summaries™
CA Civil Trial Attorney Since 1980
ABOTA Member Since 1995
Past President San Diego County Bar Assn., SD ABOTA Chapter
Phone: (619) 990-4312.
Email: monty@montymcintyre.com