What Juries Really Think: Practical Guidance for Trial Lawyers

Amy J. St. Eve, United States District Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; Adjunct Professor, Northwestern Law School.

Gretchen Scavo, Learning & Development Lead—Disputes, Winston & Strawn LLP. Ms. Scavo previously clerked for Judge St. Eve and was formerly a Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP.

18 Mar 2018

What do juries really think about lawyers? What makes jurors tick? What do lawyers do that irritates jurors? What can lawyers do better in the courtroom from the jury’s perspective? These are the questions at the heart of this article, which provides useful insight gleaned from more than 500 jurors who served in federal district court What do juries really think about lawyers? What makes jurors tick? What do lawyers do that irritates jurors? What can lawyers do better in the courtroom from the jury’s perspective? These are the questions at the heart of this article, which provides useful insight gleaned from more than 500 jurors who served in federal district court trials in Chicago, Illinois from 2011 to 2017. Below, we present our analysis of questionnaire responses from those jurors, as well as their verbatim commentary, and distill both into practical guidance for trial attorneys looking to improve their trial skills. To read more, click here.