Trial Tip: Practice Voir Dire Questioning When Preparing for Trial

I spoke recently with Rich Schoenberger — a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a past president of the San Francisco ABOTA Chapter and a very successful civil trial lawyer in San Francisco — when he was a guest on my Trial Alchemy™ podcast. 

Rich discussed how he prepares for trial, which includes a lot of time practicing the questions that he wants to ask in voir dire. During the mini opening and voir dire Rich wants to empty his "worry basket," talking with potential jurors about facts that he is concerned about. He practices listening because his goal in voir dire is to do only about 10% of the talking. By practicing, Rich makes the asking of his questions less confrontational, even though the questions themselves are confrontational. Rich and his team also make sure to brief the trial court on the need to excuse biased jurors for cause. "The right to unbiased and unprejudiced jurors is an inseparable and inalienable part of the right to a trial by jury guaranteed by the constitution." Lombardi v. California Street Cable R. Co. (1899) 124 Cal. 311, 317. 

Click on the video above to hear Rich discuss how he prepares for voir dire this way. 

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Monty A. McIntyre, Esq. helps attorneys and their clients throughout California as a mediator, arbitrator and referee, handling employment, tort (elder abuse, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, product liability and wrongful death), business, commercial, insurance (bad faith, coverage, UIM), probate, and real property cases. Monty has been a California civil trial lawyer since 1980, a member of ABOTA since 1995, has tried over 100 cases (jury trials, judge trials, administrative trials and arbitrations) and has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in the areas listed above.

To easily schedule a new matter, select the date on Monty's website: https://montymcintyre.mykajabi.com. 

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Do well and be well.  

Best regards,
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Ending the Trauma of Litigation &
Helping Attorneys Get Excellent Results
-Settling or Deciding Cases or Issues: Mediator, Arbitrator & Referee
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Trial mentoring with Monty McIntyre, (619) 990-4312.
ABOTA Member Since 1995
Past President San Diego County Bar Assn. (2002) | Past President SD ABOTA Chapter (2014)
Phone: (619) 990-4312 | Email: monty@montymcintyre.com