Jurors Are the Enemy

I recently asked a room full of lawyers who the enemy was at trial.

“The jurors!” someone shouted. The audience laughed.

Jurors are not the enemy, but thinking they are can cause you all sorts of problems.

Look, I get it. Trial is hard, and blaming the jurors are easy. They’re the reason you lose, right?

Wrong.

Jurors are hostages. They have been forced to participate in a process they neither chose nor believe in. Your job is to free them so they can become the heroes you need to win justice for your client.

But as long as you view them as the enemy, you keep them, and yourself, enslaved.

Think about it: you tell the jurors you want them to believe and trust in you all the while training your gun on them thinking, “Who here is out to get me???”

Body language begins in the brain.

If you think the jurors are your enemy, you’ll communicate it.

Not to mention that thinking the jurors are the enemy means you walk around with constant worry. You weigh yourself down with attempts to “influence,” “persuade” or god forbid, “be charismatic.”

Drop your weapons. Once you view the jurors as hostages in need of a leader, you no longer need fancy techniques and gimmicks. You just need you.

You attract what you focus on. Want bad jurors? That’s what you’ll get when you think jurors are the enemy. Want willing soldiers who will go to battle for you and your client? Change your mind about jurors and they’ll show up.