A recent Business Insider article covered U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s live-tweeting of her jury duty experience:

In addition to photos and amusing posts about her fellow jurors was the prediction that the trial attorneys would use preemptory strikes to get rid of her.

Instead, McCaskill (D-Mo.) was surprised to find she was selected to serve on a jury for a slip-and-fall case. (To her credit, she stopped her social media play-by-play once trial began, unlike some jurors we have encountered.)

However, once trial was over and she resumed her social media documentation, she made what we thought was a poignant observation about the importance of respecting jurors’ time – no matter who they are.

She wrote,

When another Twitter user asked her to elaborate she responded,

Now, Sen. McCaskill is an attorney and is quite familiar with the trial process, so it’s saying something that she perceived the questioning to be excessive and immaterial. Furthermore, that a member of Congress – a body that has perfected the art of wasting time – expressed a feeling of her time not being respected spoke volumes. So you can imagine what her fellow jurors, who don’t have courtroom experience and have likely only seen the rapid-fire questioning on TV dramas, were thinking.

Many of the trial teams we work with make it a point to tell jurors up front that their time is being respected and every effort will be made to maintain a healthy pace so they can get back to their busy lives. During post-trial interviews, we have observed this simple sentiment can go a long way.

The senator’s account of her jury duty experience also highlights the importance of acknowledging the prevalence of social media and how ingrained it is into many jurors’ lives. The widespread social media of modern life can help when doing pre-trial research on potential jurors, and monitoring jurors’ social media accounts during trial can alert the trial team when a juror is inappropriately discussing the case online.

Given this confirmation of what we have heard from jurors all over the country, perhaps the most surprising aspect of Sen. McCaskill’s experience is that she wasn’t chosen as foreperson.

To discuss how we might be able to help you tighten up your trial presentation, contact Senior Vice President Claire Luna at 714.754.1010 or cluna@juryimpact.net.