First Jury Trial

I had a right of passage yesterday - I had my first jury trial. It is a day that attorneys dream of and dread all at once. The best and worst part of it was that I had less than 24 hours notice that I was flying solo. The partner who was supposed to be trying the case had a family emergency, and the trial could not be pushed because my client is about to start serving in Iraq. I went from doing one direct to doing the whole trial, meaning I had less than 24 hours to prepare a voir dire, opening statement, cross examination of the plaintiff and her boyfriend, and closing statement. It also meant that I had less than 24 hours to worry about the fact that my first jury trial was coming up, so I did not have time to make myself sick stressing about it.

Here are some things I have learned:

(1) Apparently I can prepare for trial in 24 hours and still sleep (some - it was a toss and turn sleep) the night before.

(2) When you are going up against an attorney that is going to make a good, smooth presence before the jury, let the jurors know that it is your first jury trial. It forces the other attorney to be nice to you in front of the jury. It allows you to get away with nerves, awkwardness, and disorganization. They aren't expecting much from you, so anything near competent looks good. Too bad I cannot use that excuse anymore.

(3) Find the juror that looks pleasant at you and the juror the nods at everything you say, and talk to them. You might even get lucky like I did and have them sitting in different parts of the jury box so that all the jurors feel the love.

(4) There are always going to be curveballs thrown at trial. This plaintiff claimed in all medical records and at her deposition that she had left shoulder trouble before and after the accident. On the stand, she said it was her right shoulder before and her left shoulder after the accident. She said this after I had told the jury it was the left before and after the accident in my opening statement. When she said it was her right, all jurors looked at me. I had to put on a show and start stacking up papers that would disprove her statement. It made the jury anticipate my cross. Adding to the anticipation was the juror break that occurred right before my cross.

(5) Cross examination is fun, especially when Plaintiff is inconsistent between her pre-trial and trial testimony. Really fun. It made for an attentive jury. There is nothing like an adrenaline rush that comes after a successful (even though maybe not artfully performed) cross.

(6) Use statements made in voir dire in closing. I am not sure where I learned that or if anyone told me that, but in voir dire I made a statement that fit in perfectly with the cross I did of plaintiff. I read that statement, which every juror seated in the case agreed with, three times in my closing statement. Once at the beginning, once in the middle, and once at the end. It made for a nice theme to the very rough closing statement that I put on.

(7) Waiting for juries to come back is painful. Watching the look on the judge's face while he reads the verdict to himself before reading it out loud is painful.

(8) A win for a defendant is not a $0 verdict, and it is hard to explain a win to others. Plaintiff was asking for around $18,000.00 in medical expenses that she presented the bills for to the jury. When you add pain and suffering and other things like that, it could be around $40,000.00 for a potential verdict. The jury awarded Plaintiff $4,741.00. My goal was for the verdict to be between $5,000-9,000. I get to call it a win.

(9) Voir dire (or choosing the jury for any of you who are not lawyers and have not served on a jury) sucks! It is the worst part of the trial. I do not think that I will be able to ever choose my own jurors after voir dire. Fortunately, another associate in our office went with me and handled choosing the jurors, the motion in limine, and the jury charge. He picked a good jury. He helped me out tremendously! I am very grateful! He also had less than 24 hours notice that he would be helping me. He definitely stepped up to the plate.

(10) Do not underestimate the ability of anyone in trial. If someone has been practicing law for a few years, more than likely they are capable of coming in and doing a trial. They may even use their first trial as an excuse to elicit sympathy from the jury. I have only watched one other trial go all the way to a jury, yet I pulled it off. I guess I am officially a trial lawyer now!