NCJ Number
149905
Journal
Trial Volume: 30 Issue: 4 Dated: (July 1994) Pages: 72-77,80-81
Date Published
1994
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Lawyers representing the plaintiff in a wrongful suit must be aware of the arts of storytelling in order to create and maintain the interest of the jury in their client's case.
Abstract
Jurors should be made to feel close to the action. They need to feel involved in the incident, like an observer, rather than the reader of a newspaper account. The first step the lawyer should take is to make the jury visualize personal participation in the venture and enhance its identification with the client. A major goal of the attorney is to make the jury care about the client; evidence and advance descriptions must be presented in voir dire and opening statements to show the personal characteristics of the client. The attorney must then cultivate the jury's understanding by simplifying the issues and letting jurors know where the case is heading and why. Additional techniques lawyers should use in grooming a sympathetic jury are to choose the context in which evidence is presented, assist the memory of the jurors through the closing argument, and encourage the jury to express its indignation toward the conduct of the defendant by returning a significant verdict.