MASTERING VOIR DIRE: Learning Effective Voir Dire Techniques

Most litigators agree that trials can be won or lost during jury selection. That’s why a lawyer’s skills during voir dire are so critical. Yet:

• Few lawyers ever develop the kind of systematic approach that is required for the task.
  
• Frustration with the process causes too many lawyers to “wing it,” thus losing their one opportunity to ferret out harmful biases.
  
• Even when lawyers do get good information, they don’t always know what to do with it.
  

We created Mastering Voir Dire because jury selections occur too infrequently and the stakes are too high to learn from mistakes. Whether you have picked many juries or none at all, Mastering Voir Dire converts frustration into effectiveness by demonstrating techniques that work on a panel of live jurors.

Through a combination of lecture and actual juror demonstrations, lawyers see for themselves how to conduct effective and efficient voir dire, not just for that once-in-a-lifetime case but for every case.

Attendees will learn how to:

• Phrase questions that reveal jurors’ attitudes about key case issues
• Confidently address problem issues without offending jurors or judges
• Hone strategies for using time wisely and for the best use of peremptory challenges

Tailored to your case: Mastering Voir Dire can be used to workshop an upcoming case in your firm. We provide voir dire questions that reveal key biases and demonstrate them on the seminar jury panel. Jurors’ testimony helps you discern which questions should be asked in court. Programs can vary from 1.5 to 3 hours in length.

For bar associations: Because bar associations sponsor shorter seminars, we offer Mastering Voir Dire without the live jury panel unless at least 90 minutes is available for a program.