The Night-Before Voir Dire Checklist

Jury selection rewards preparation more than any other part of trial, and gets less of it, because the night before trial is when the opening statement is still being rewritten. This checklist is short on purpose. Print it. Check it.

The case

1. Write your criteria. Three to six plain-language statements of what makes a juror good or bad for this case. Weight each one. (See A Consistent Scoring Framework for Voir Dire.)
2. Know your themes in one sentence each. If you cannot say why a juror characteristic matters in terms of a theme, the criterion is probably not real.
3. Decide what you need to learn from every juror. Two or three questions you will ask everyone, so you are comparing like with like.

The panel

1. Get the list as early as the court allows. Some clerks release it the day before; some hand it over at 9:00 a.m. Know which, and have a plan for either.
2. Research the names you have. Public records, public social content, identity confirmed by at least two points before you rely on anything.
3. Read the questionnaires against your criteria, not just for red flags. Mark where each juror lands on each criterion and where you have no information.

The questions

1. Draft follow-up questions for the issues your research raised. Open-ended, non-leading, phrased so that an honest answer either way helps you.
2. Prepare your cause challenges. Know the standard in your jurisdiction and have the words ready: "Is there anything about that experience that would make it difficult for you to…"
3. Know your peremptory count, the order of exercise, and whether the judge uses a struck-jury or jury-box method. Ask the clerk if you are not certain.

The room

1. Decide what goes on the table. Laptop or tablet, seating chart, criteria sheet. Whatever you use has to work without pulling your eyes off the jurors for more than a few seconds.
2. Assign the second chair a job. Notes, the chart, or watching the jurors you are not questioning. One person cannot do all three.
3. Plan your record. Whatever you use to track strikes, decide now how you will record the reason for each one, in one line, at the time you exercise it.

The morning

Read your criteria once more before the panel is called. Then put the paper down and look at the people. Preparation is what lets you do that.