Jury consulting and litigation consulting are the other two terms by which people know trial consulting. However, of recent since many cases get settled out of court, people prefer the term trial consulting or litigation consulting as opposed to jury consulting.
Trial consulting is nothing but the use of social science experts or social scientists, clinical psychologists and communication experts to support lawyers in a trial. Earlier trial consultants were hired for selecting the jury in a trial. But now the trial consultants have increased the scope of their services. Trial consulting has been around since several years, but it has gathered speed only in the recent past. This is mainly because of the huge amount of remuneration for the services of a trial consultant. His remuneration is generally at par with the lawyer or some of the reputed trial consultants may charge even higher than a lawyer.
Define the role of trial consultant
A trial consultant’s job broadly falls under three main things.
- Picking the jury: A trial consultant generally has a bucket list of which all can be possible jurors. They then go through this list to single out those who can understand the dynamics in the case and would be on their side. By their experience they can tell which juror will be in the best position to understand your case point of view and thus have a favorable outcome.
- Working with witnesses and evidence: The important task of preparing the witness before the litigation starts is done by these trial consultants only. Doing mock trials with them so that they don’t lose confidence in the last minute. A nervous witness can have a negative impact on your case and the trial consultant ensures that this doesn’t happen. They create almost a trial like environment in front of the witness! It also concerns readying evidence and exhibits to be presented in court during the trial. Researching precedents of the case or the situation also forms the part of trial consulting.
- Deciding on trial strategy: The trial consultant will decide by their experience when to bring which witness or evidence in front of the jury to get the maximum benefit. They know the working and thinking style of a juror and know how to engage them. They try to understand which juror can be engaged and how. More often than not, it’s not witnesses and evidence but an incompetent trial strategy that loses cases. Their decisions are based on their research and experience form the cases they have gone through throughout their professional life. Also to minimize costs, they work closely with the attorneys, so that they are aware of every little thing in the case.
A trial consultant also looks towards the financial aspects of the case. The trial consultants also keep in mind the resources used in the case that is the economics of the case. This will not only save the money but also a lot of time for the client.
What are the basic qualifications to be trial consultant?
As was mentioned earlier, trial consultants are clinical psychologists, social scientists, communication expert, psychiatrists etc all with a basic understanding of the law and knowledge of the industry that the trial deals with. To understand this, we can take the example of a case that involves the harassment of an employee at an IT firm. To get into the groove of the case, the trial consultant must have the knowledge of the policies followed in an IT firm along with dealing with the psyche of the employee. It is understood that it’s not possible to know about all sectors. The research part is the essence of the entire process of trial consulting.
Along with the eagerness to learn a potential trial consultant must have a problem solving attitude and the ability to interpret the things in the requisite manner.
When do you need to engage trial consultants?
The most in vogue variety of cases that trial consultants are associated with are copyrights suits, art forgery and health care. In fact the list of cases that a trial consult deals is quite large. Some of the other cases involve government regulations, gender and racial discrimination, personal loss to body, environmental and ecological safety cases, property or reputation, any professional malpractice, infrastructure and many more.
What else can trial consultants’ do?
You don’t need to ask your law firm to hire yourself a trial consultant. They have their own in-house attorneys and lawyers as well. Trial consulting organizations can fully function in the law field if they choose to be an independent body. I Ordinary people hesitate engaging the law firms they can look for help from the trial consultants and solve their problems . The litigation companies can then refer the lawyers and attorneys keeping the demands in mind.
If the case is very important for you and you can’t afford to take risk with it, going for trial consulting will surely increase your chances.
Thank you for sharing the information.
ReplyDeleteTrial consultants are the persons who are very helpful not only to the jury but, also to general people as they are also helping to get the right of protection to the victims.
Now a days, many firms are providing the service of trial consultancy and there is a firm named as Focus litigation consulting who is providing the service of jury & trial consultancy.