“Siri, which juror should I strike?” As nice as the fantasy is, a machine will never be able to pick a jury—no, not even the iPhone’s personal assistant can apply the critical ingredient of human judgment to that important task. Still, technology can play an increasingly viable and useful role in helping you organize the information that will permit you to intelligently exercise a strike.
Step into just about any courtroom on day one of trial, and you will see attorneys and consultants using their own particular systems for managing the flood of critical information coming from the panel during oral voir dire. We’ve long since given up on paper as the medium for writing briefs or for organizing spreadsheets, yet we still generally cling to paper methods—usually Post-It notes arranged in a grid—when it comes to note-taking during jury selection. That is partly because viable electronic tools for the task are only just coming on to the market, and partly because it is hard to switch methods during the stressful moments of jury selection.
Video Review: Jury Box Version 3.03
The new tools, however, are doing a lot to address the stress. And, while much of the focus has been drawn to the iPad’s jury selection apps, one of the most promising new programs is for the good old laptop. Jury Box is designed by Adam Gordon, a Deputy District Attorney for San Diego County, and it aims to aid attorneys and consultants in collecting and organizing information during voir dire. In the video below, I took up the task of reviewing Jury Box’s latest update, Version 3.03, and commenting on some of the advantages the program offers over others on the market.
Ken Broda-Bahm is a Senior Litigation Consultant at Persuasion Strategies, and has provided research and strategic advice on several hundred cases across the country, applying a doctorate in communication emphasizing the areas of legal persuasion and rhetoric. A tenured Associate Professor of Communication Studies, he is also a past President of the American Society of Trial Consultants. Dr. Broda-Bahm blogs at PersuasiveLitigator.com.
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