Are Mock Jury Trials Actually Worth Their Cost in the Digital Age?

Traditional Methods Are Expensive

The idea behind mock jury testing conducted before trial was derived from the use of focus groups by marketing agencies. As a method of qualitative research developing information from human expression and opinion, mock jury trials have significant merit. The reactions of the individuals involved can indicate which evidence is most persuasive or which concepts are particularly confusing, an idea of the settlement amount can be garnered, and attorneys have a chance to practice their trial skills.

With methods for conducting these live trials becoming ever more complex, a thoroughly designed and organized mock jury trial may cost between $10,000 and $60,000. Even those law firms conducting in-house mock trials charge their clients around $50,000. Jury consultants are inclined to make less promises with lower-cost techniques, and maintain that in order to have a more reliable mock jury trial, jurors must be painstakingly recruited by the use of social science methodologies, the experimental trial should be for the proper period of time and in a facility reflective of the actual trial, and at least ten jurors should be utilized.

But in the digital age, are these time-consuming and expensive mock jury trials necessary to gain an advantage in the courtroom?

Internet Juries

Within its “Beermoney” sub-community, Reddit is rife with inquiries from individuals seeking work as online jury members. Prospective mock jurors are pointed to companies like Online Verdict, which sends attorneys feedback based on online focus groups within 48 hours of the “trial,” and EJURY, which has purportedly “revolutionized the way attorneys prepare for trial” by using the Internet to expand the jury panel at a lower cost. Internet jurors hired by such companies read “case submissions” stating the facts and other pertinent information before submitting their verdicts with the click of a button. There is no group deliberation, as would occur in an actual trial. Within hours, the results from the online jury pool are tabulated and summarized with statistical analysis for the attorney’s review.

Some consulting agencies have gone further in providing live video feed of the mock trials to the jurors at home. Then a smaller group of jurors (usually no more than twelve) engage in a web-based “focus group with a ‘Brady Bunch’ style view,” during which they discuss their reactions to the trial with a moderator.

The Old Ways May Triumph

In today’s society, people turn to the internet to solve their problems, and expect quality results in a cheap and timely fashion. But perhaps mock jury trials are better left as old fashioned, in-person productions where the jurors’ expressions can be read, attorneys’ voices can be heard, and the case unfolds in a manner similar to that occurring in the actual courtroom. There are minute but critical factors to be lost in the analysis when jurors, in the comfort of their living rooms and without meaningful interaction with one another, merely read the facts of the case in html format before submitting their verdicts. Until technology can truly mirror the face-to-face experience of a trial, mock juries should be kept offline.