Seven Habits for Highly Effective Jury Trials - April 2006 - Judges' Corner
| Publication year | 2006 |
| Pages | 79 |
| Citation | Vol. 35 No. 4 Pg. 79 |
2006, April, Pg. 79. Seven Habits for Highly Effective Jury Trials - April 2006 - Judges' Corner
April 2006
Vol. 35, No. 4 [Page 79]
Judges' Corner
Seven Habits for Highly Effective Jury Trials
by J. Steven Patrick
Judges' Corner is published quarterly to provide information Colorado judges would like to disseminate to attorneys. If you would like to suggest topics or write an article for this column, please e-mail Judges' Corner Editor Judge Alan Loeb, Colorado Court of Appeals, at alan.loeb@judicial.state.co.us.
We live in an era where we expect the courtroom events in real life to mirror the courtroom dramas depicted on popular television shows. In reality, jurors are not kept on the edge of their seats throughout the trial, cases are not neatly wrapped up in an hour or less, and lawyers and law enforcement agencies do not have the same resources as their television counterparts. The purpose of this article is to provide some food for thought for attorneys interested in maximizing their effectiveness during jury trials. Adopting, or at least considering, the seven habits provided in this article can help attorneys replace harmful behaviors that alienate jurors with more constructive behaviors that help earn their trust and respect.
The habits are not intended to be exclusive, nor are they necessarily presented in order of priority. Further, they should be adopted, adopted with adjustment, or ignored - based on the practicing lawyer's particular case, as well as his or her personality and style. Most jurors want to do the right thing, are desperately looking for clues as to which witnesses and lawyers to believe, and expect certain conduct, standards, and direction in a trial, particularly from counsel and the judge.
Habit Number 1: Believe in Your Case
Jurors expect that the lawyer presenting or defending the case believes in the case. When an attorney's confidence in his or her case falters, so does the jurors' belief in that attorney's side of the case. One of the least effective closing arguments presented in my courtroom to a jury by defense counsel went something like this: "If you do find for the plaintiff, please don't just open the bank vault." Believing in your case means believing you are going to win; even the smallest expression of uncertainty on your part can significantly undermine your case.
Believing in your case also means caring about its outcome. In the movie Twelve Angry Men, the jurors discussed among...
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