voir dire

For some unknown reason, and much to his chagrin (I imagine), my dad is one of those poor, unfortunate souls who seems to receive a jury summons on a semi-regular basis. And being civic-minded, he responds and goes to the courthouse and sits on a jury panel each time. He has sat through as many voir dire sessions as anyone I can think of. Most recently, he sat through the voir dire of a federal criminal prosecution, but was ultimately struck through the jury. So I thought it appropriate to conclude this series with the perspective of someone on the...

As a reminder of the purpose of this exercise, I have interviewed several lawyers with the same 8 questions about their theories and methods in approaching the most effective ways to voir dire a jury. Part 1 addresses goals, tactics, and effectiveness of a voir dire. This is Part 2, dealing with voir dire mistakes, methods, and advice. Part 3 is a non-lawyer’s perspective from a jury panel. I have agreed to keep the identities of each of these litigators anonymous, but I still want to introduce you to the lawyers by way of their general practice type and jurisdiction: L1 has...

Voir dire is the process of taking a panel of prospective jurors to determine which are most fit to hear and decide your case. In my five years of litigation practice, I have seen that voir dire appears to be the most uncertain and widely variable aspect of a trial. When it’s good, an engaging lawyer sets herself up for a good rapport with the jury. But when it’s bad, the jury is bored, the judge is bored, and opposing counsel is smirking wickedly while chomping at the bit to make a more favorable impression on the potential jurors. I have...