For months now, conventional wisdom has held that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are just a flash in the pan, sure to join Howard Dean, Herman Cain and innumerable others as amusing historical footnotes once voters headed to the polls. The Donald is too brash and too offensive to be taken seriously as president, the thinking goes, and Cruz is too abrasive and extreme. Surely, the pundits predicted, the establishment will unite behind a more moderate, conventional candidate such as Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio and propel that person to the nomination.
Then Iowa happened, with Cruz and Trump taking the top two spots in the Republican field – an outcome no one would have predicted six months ago. It is still anything but clear who the GOP will settle on as its nominee, but it is indisputable the conventional wisdom has been turned on its head. Voters, it turns out, don’t always play by the rules.
From our perspective, jurors are even more unpredictable than voters. Whereas voters have to express at least some interest in the process by registering to vote in order to participate, the courts essentially take all comers (with some exceptions, such as felons). The result is most venires are a grab bag of people with diverse experiences and opinions, and even under the best of circumstances – when you have plenty of time to research jurors and unlimited voir dire – attorneys simply don’t know enough about their jurors to predict with any confidence what a jury might do with a given case.
With so much uncertainty, we believe banking on the conventional wisdom – that jurors will see your case in the same logical way you do, and will be swayed by the same set of facts – is a dangerous bet.
That’s why we believe focus groups are such a valuable part of the pre-trial process. We are able to look at a case with fresh eyes and help you see it from a new perspective. More importantly, the vast majority of our focus group juries surprise the attorneys – and us – in some way about how they see a case, and it’s important to know where the surprises might be ahead of time. From our perspective, it’s better to be surprised during a focus group, when you still have time to adjust your trial strategy, then when you receive a disappointing verdict.
The conventional wisdom might be right, but, then again, it might not. Why take that chance when there’s so much on the line?
We’ve helped our clients anticipate the unexpected in hundreds of case over the years. Contact Senior Vice President Claire Luna at cluna@juryimpact.net or 714.754.1010 to find out how we can help with your case.
