Litigation Support
Successful litigation begins by anticipating the attitudes, thoughts and judgments of jurors not yet selected. This is the objective of any project that aims to assist attorneys with their cases. Research & Polling provides services to help eliminate the guess work in litigation and get reliable answers to your toughest questions before going to trial.
From its inception, Research & Polling has fulfilled a role of serving the legal industry with a broad range of research support services.
Mock Jury
We recruit representative panels of jurors and provide a courtroom setting for you to test an abbreviated version of your case.
The benefits of a mock jury are numerous:
- Test your basic strategy and specific arguments
- Measure the impact certain exhibits may, or may not, have on jurors
- Survey jurors to assess the individual reaction to every element of your case
- Test the value and effectiveness of lay and expert witnesses
- Discover unsuspected strengths and weaknesses in your case
- Listen in on actual deliberations and uncover the persuasive elements of the case that affect jurors
- Evaluate your client's comparative negligence
- Help determine settlement value
- Individual juror verdict forms assessing the verdicts
- Group jury verdict forms from each panel of jurors assessing the verdicts
- Identify the ideal juror profile for your case
- Identify the most important voir dire questions to be asked to prospective jurors
Change of Venue Research
Using quantitative survey research, we can scientifically evaluate the climate for getting a fair trial in the venue where a case is pending. By interviewing a random sample of adults, we are able to generalize the survey results to an entire community. When appropriate, Research & Polling can provide expert testimony on the results of a survey in a motion for a change of venue.
Jury Selection Consultation
Several qualitative and quantitative survey research methods can be utilized to determine an ideal psychographic and demographic juror profile, eliminating much of the guess work in deciding who makes an ideal juror for your case, or perhaps more importantly, who makes a risky juror that should be struck from your case.
Jury Follow-Up Interviews
After a trial, jurors are often reluctant or unable to discuss or even acknowledge the prejudices or biases which influenced their decision most significantly. In one-on-one or group interviews with the actual jury panel after a trial, we are able to uncover the subtle or hidden factors which may have affected the verdict. Jurors are asked to evaluate many aspects of the trial, including the attorneys, evidence presented, and witnesses.
Community Attitude Assessment
Before the discovery process is completed for a case, Research & Polling can conduct focus groups or survey research to uncover and verify subtle prejudices that can dramatically influence the jurors and the outcome of your case. These influences, when understood, can be vital in planning the legal strategy, can yield reliable criteria for the jury selection process and may provide psychological hooks that can be used effectively throughout the trial.
Shadow Juries
For large, high-stakes cases, we can provide shadow jurors who listen to the actual trial as it is in progress. This invaluable source of on-going information can provide crucial indications of how your strategy should be altered while the trial is in progress.