Course Description:
This seminar addresses legal issues relating to the venire, voir dire, selection, excusal, competency, and behavioral constraints concerning citizens serving as trial jurors. Both state and federal statutes and case law will be included. Juror misconduct, mistrials relating to jurors, sequestration, juror notes, instructions, deadlock, and leadership/structuring of deliberations will be covered. Recent studies from social psychology, group dynamics, and communication, as well as videotapes of real deliberations will be analyzed, along with srategic uses of trial consultants. The ABA’s revised standards for jury trials (2005) and jury innovation projects nationwide will be examined. Students will learn to recognize, research, persuasively argue, and suggest appropriate remedies for trial issues involving juries. Students will draft motions and briefs (pretrial, during trial, post trial) and jury questionnaires that address legal issues for specific trial scenarios. Students must attend the first class.