The Estrin Report

"JuryTest.net Creates Self-Service Internet Mock Trials"

Very interesting find from EContent magazine:

"JuryTest.net, a provider of online mock trials since 2002, has launched on-demand access to its suite of online case presentation and evaluation tools. The JuryTest system is designed to enable attorneys to record, edit, and analyze case presentations any time of day or night. JuryTest case evaluations usually cost $1,000 - $3,000, depending primarily on case-length and number of jurors. After a lawyer records a case argument using the JuryTest recording line (1.888.JURYTEST), the recording pops up in the lawyer's casefolder on the JuryTest website, where the lawyer can add documents, photographs, or witness video and select questions for jurors to address."

Also see this post about a similar web-based sevice: TrialJuries.

''Mock Jury' Site Readies Launch"

Found this new service on the always-informative blog, Robert J. Ambrogi's Lawsites:

"A Web site offering mock juries where lawyers can test their cases is now online and preparing for a formal launch in January. Called TrialJuries, the site will allow lawyers to submit their cases and have them 'decided' by online jurors similar to those who would serve on an actual jury at trial."

You can sign up for possible selection as a 'juror' here. Read about the founders here & how everything works here & here.

"Keep Executive Witnesses From Falling Off the Credibility Cliff"

Here's an interesting article about corporate executive witnesses:

"These are challenging times for those of us who represent and defend corporations in litigation. The recent criminal convictions of Enron's Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling only confirm what we have known for quite some time -- jurors are skeptical [PDF link] of, and even hostile toward, corporations and corporate executives.

"But in order to formulate an effective defense strategy, it is important to understand why jurors hold these attitudes. Dr. Ross Laguzza [PDF link], a jury consultant with R&D Strategic Solutions, explains that jurors are rarely motivated by anger: "In all the conversations I have had with real and surrogate jurors who are punitive, I would estimate that less than 10 percent were ever punishing out of anger." Instead, he says, jurors are motivated by fear: "Many people are afraid of an unsafe world and look to those who appear to be powerful to protect them from risk. Large corporations are perceived to have the resources necessary to accurately predict the future and stave off unwanted risks." When jurors see a big company that has failed to protect others, or has used its immense power to harm others, fear drives their decision."