After a trial has been completed or terminated, we design and conduct comprehensive telephone, mail, or in-person interviews of the jury based on the specific details of your trial. When a case may be retried, or when you are trying a series of cases that involve similar issues and witnesses, post-trial interviews are extremely helpful. Jurors provide invaluable feedback about:
- What went on in the jury room, including possible juror misconduct.
- How they understood the major issues in the case.
- How effective they found the case themes in helping them understand and remember the issues.
- How they perceived different attorney and witness presentation styles.
- What would have helped them in reaching a verdict.
In addition to conducting interviews for feedback on case issues and themes, if the court allows it, we can also conduct interviews to determine whether or not there may have been juror misconduct. Obtaining juror interviews after a bad trial outcome is difficult and requires training and sensitivity by the interviewers. It also requires skill to obtain juror affidavits. We work closely with appellate counsel to make sure we have a mutual understanding of what constitutes misconduct in the venue. In one post trial interview study in Los Angeles, we discovered misconduct and the judge called for a retrial on damages only. In another case, the judge reduced the damage award because jurors introduced erroneous facts into the damages deliberations.