Services
Jury Selection
Jury composition has considerable weighting in the outcome of a case. Factors such as gender, and personal beliefs for example, can directly influence the perceptions that jurors form during a case. A trial consultant can support and improve the effectiveness of vetting potential jurors, through the use of evidence-supported methods.
Witness Preparation
Testifying in a trial can be an anxiety-provoking experience for some people. For others, natural styles of communication may present as noise in the legal space and impede their ability to clearly convey their thoughts and connect with jurors. To minimise or even cancel-out these obstructions, witness-clients are guided through a customized process of interpersonal and intrapersonal readjustment.
Mock Trials
Here, we go a step further into trial preparation. Courtroom conditions are simulated along with a complete mock jury panel (s). Mock jurors’ feedback is used curate a pool of critical factors that are likely to have considerable trial-outcome impact. In certain cases, the use of multiple panels in the evaluative process, can improve accuracy. Trial-strategy can be polished further with the incorporation of this information.
Focus Groups
Different details of a case, may warrant more concern in terms of the way that they may be perceived by a juror. It is advisable, for such information to undergo a pre-trial process of analysis. This can be achieved through focus-group feedback. The focus group will be comprised of jury eligible citizens who have similar features of the anticipated trial jury. Here, we get the opportunity to foresee how certain information may be received, allowing for revisions in presentation approaches.
Post-Trial Juror Interviews
Regardless of the outcome of a case, it is advisable for legal professionals to evaluate their trial performance. Evaluations can yield insightful information that can be referenced for future trial preparations in similar cases. One should have an idea of what worked and perhaps more importantly, what did not work. Jurors can contribute to this data pool, by giving confidential feedback about their trial experience in general and on more specific elements of the case. As an appropriately trained and objective third-party, with extensive real-life experience in clinical interviewing, ELPF can be entrusted with this delicate task.
Case Consulting
To increase the odds of achieving a favourable case outcome, it is advisable to identify weaknesses and points of contention that are inherent and or unique to a specific case, and that have been scientifically shown to affect the perceptions and judgements of legal professionals. Consultation can assist with the refinement and customisation of pre-trial strategy formulation in order to mitigate the impact of problematic case factors.
Expert-Witness Consultation
From the commission of a crime, to the stages when evidence is gathered, interviews are conducted, time lapses, and the actual trial begins, many case-relevant questions (e.g., memory accuracy) may arise. With the use of issue-specific research evidence, ELPF can provide responses in some cases, while practicing from a stance of confidentiality, objectivity and acknowledgement of the limits to our professional capabilities.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It’s easy. Just click “Edit Text” or double click me to add your own content and make changes to the font.
