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Jury selection can make or break your case.

Attorneys are not taught jury selection techniques in law school. New lawyers cobble together a voir dire strategy with no more than their uninformed intuition, their personal experiences with different types of people, and perhaps the guidance from older attorneys, who pass along their own misperceptions with comments like, "Never put school teachers on your jury."

Experienced lawyers fall into two categories: those who have learned something about jury selection techniques, and those who have not. Those who have learned are the attorneys who conduct focus groups, request supplemental jury questionnaires and ask probing questions during voir dire. Those who have not, select juries pretty much the same way people did in the 1950's: ask enough questions to "get a good feeling" about the venire, and strike the jury based on those feelings.




Maureen McLaughlin has been a trial consultant since the 1970's. She started her practice working in rural South Georgia courthouses and Atlanta courtrooms, working on criminal and civil cases. She has worked with attorneys with many varying degrees of experience, and understands the trepidation that every attorney feels going into a jury trial where his client's life or livelihood is on the line.

As a sole practitioner, Maureen is able to offer her undivided attention to your case. Her belief is that everyone deserves a fair trial, regardless of his or her race, ethnic origin, mental or psychiatric ability, education, or financial means. To that end, Maureen is available to work on cases with both public defenders and private attorneys.



© 2007 Maureen McLaughlin