Judges & Juries

Let’s talk about judges and juries, because that’s what lawyers talk about and that’s what lawyers talk about with their clients. Let’s talk about Judges first. A judge, a good judge, is a good listener and a good lawyer crafts his or her case or arguments so that the Judge will listen and wants to listen to the arguments. Any time the Judge puts on a robe, and a lawyer walks in the court room, it’s all business. The fact that a lawyer and a Judge know each other in no way, should or will impact the case. It’ll be decided on the facts and the law.

Let’s talk a minute about juries. Are they really 12 angry people? Are they 12 confused people? Are they partially angry and partially confused? Whenever a lawyer and a client end up in front of a jury, it means that all other avenues to resolve the matter have been exhausted. And it means that the lawyer and the client have turned the resolution and disposition of the case over to 12 strangers. It means that a lawyer and the client have really lost control of the case. Jury trials are necessary when parties cannot agree on a resolution of the case. Jury trials are usually an all or nothing matter. You win or you lose.

Jury trials are governed by rules of evidence, strict rules of evidence, strict rules of procedure and strict rules of professional conduct on the lawyers. Judges are very careful to enforce those rules so that juries hopefully, don’t get confused and can understand the law and the facts. I have handled a number of jury trials, not only in the state of North Carolina but in other states as well. And in every instance, juries are made up differently, come from different backgrounds and bring different dispositions to a case.

A good lawyer, in picking a jury, will understand the dispositions and predispositions, both conscious and unconscious of the potential jurors in an effort to pick a fair and impartial jury for their client.