One day, we all hope sooner than later, normalcy will return. Our trial schedules will revert to their hectic nature, and lawyers will once again be working overtime to shape arguments and present evidence in ways that put their clients’ cases in the best light.
But faced with this enforced time-out, now may be the perfect time to rethink approaches to trial preparation.
Keystone Jury Consulting was built to help the best trial attorneys prepare their cases—how they introduce evidence, question their star witnesses, and frame their key arguments—through reliable focus-group testing.
The value of this kind of insight has been proven time and again, not only for our clients but for our profession as a whole.
Anyone who’s tried a case in front of a jury knows things often don’t go as planned. Home-run arguments fall flat. Illuminating evidence ends up just clouding jury opinions. Questions never considered before trial creep into jury room deliberations when it’s too late.
Which is why Keystone Jury Consulting provides a clear strategic advantage for those smart enough to test their pre-trial assumptions with our focus groups.
Since the start, we’ve provided an online focus-group option for this kind of testing in addition to in-person focus groups. That’s because we believe pre-trial focus-group testing doesn’t have to be a luxury available only to the biggest firms working on the highest-stakes cases.
Online focus groups provide an innovative, affordable and frictionless way to offer quality services that retain the objectivity sought from participants who reflect projected jury demographics. And in a world where social distancing is now the norm with no clear end in sight, we’re seeing additional benefits that could extend even beyond our industry to the wider community.
With the need to create more remote income-generating opportunities, we also hope to do our part in supporting families who are experiencing unexpected income losses. Online focus groups are less expensive to run, the logistics smoother for all involved, and recruitment is easier, since people can participate from their own homes. Which means more money directly into the pockets of our families in need. And with programs like Comcast Internet Essentials becoming even more accessible during the pandemic, this type of remote operation won’t necessarily leave out lower-income communities.
It’s our small way of supporting (and being supported by) an uncharted remote economy.
This, while ensuring our clients can gain the same insights, same value and same strategic advantage provided through in-person focus groups. Critical issues, potential bias, decision points, and juror-pool feedback can be gathered, analyzed and reported just as easily over video conference as in a real-world conference room.
Even when the current crisis ebbs, we believe the interest in our online pre-trial focus-groups will continue to grow as more firms and cases of all sizes and importance see the merits of this strategy.
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