In all of my days working predominantly for the defense in civil cases, my clients have openly longed for “intelligent” jurors who they believed would
“Six months into the pandemic, trial-by-video-jury – at least in the civil context – is beginning to morph from experiment to expectation. And while lawyers
One of the first memorable studies that I read about jury psychology in graduate school was the 1997 study by Neil Feigenson and colleagues on
By Scott Herndon, M.A. When I joined Sound Jury Consulting 5 years ago, I entered with a unique background – I am a college debate
With every project, I’m reminded of the power of a mock trial to effectively and efficiently inform one’s litigation strategy. Too often I think attorneys
This past week, King County Superior Courts in Seattle, Washington laid out their plans for the resumption of civil jury trials. In an effort to
Protests, COVID, health care, stimulus package, Trump, news (fake or otherwise), monuments, and on and on and on. This country is more divided than ever
Yesterday, Seattle Public Schools announced that remote learning will continue indefinitely, meaning public school kids are not going back to school in the fall. A
“I don’t think it would make a difference at all. I’m not even convinced this whole coronavirus thing is real. I don’t know anyone who’s
For the past couple of years, we’ve been conducting national surveys on a variety of subjects in order to find out what kinds of
Traumatic national events, like the COVID-19 pandemic elicit a broad range of emotions in potential jurors. Jurors, like all of us, worry about the safety
I, like most of you, have probably been having some difficult conversations lately. The most difficult, though, are not just steeped in real ideological differences,
This week, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Above the Law about the research we have been conducting on how the pandemic impacts
It was awesome to get back to conducting in-person mock trial research this past weekend! While things looked a bit different, it still checked off
For years, I’ve successfully avoided Facetime calls and most video conferences. However, around 9 weeks, 2 days, 13 hours, and 42 minutes ago, that all
It is the question on every litigator’s mind: What impact, if any, will the pandemic have on jury decision-making once trials resume? Will there be
As the country starts to re-open and jury trials resume, it is our job to research and understand what impact the pandemic and the stay-at-home
We have officially entered the eighth week of the stay-at-home order in Washington State. Six days ago, our governor announced there would be no jury
*Previously published our Jury Economics column in the December 2019 issue of the King County Bar Bulletin. By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. and Kevin R.
*Previously published our Jury Economics column in the January 2020 issue of the King County Bar Bulletin. By Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. and Kevin Boully,
