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Continued... Page 4 > Mock Trials

The biggest caveat to be applied with mock juries is that while they can be predictive, they are also prone to sampling error. The group you end up with through the newspaper and the group that ultimately sits in the jury box in the courtroom where you are trying the case may be very different. It is important that you take mock trial results with proper perspective ñ one source of information among many about how a real jury might respond to the facts of your case.

But in the experience of this lawyer, the results of the mock juries in my cases have always been helpful on both liability and damages issues and in many cases, predictive of what the real jury ultimately awards. Beyond this, there has not been a case in which I have done a mock trial where it has not helped both my confidence level and sense of the upside/downside potential as I head into the courtroom. For this reason, they should be done as the rule rather than the exception, helping you to better serve your clients.

While these terms are often used interchangeably, I usually do something closer to the more structured mock trial format, having a group jury deliberation that closely resembles the real thing, with a verdict form to complete.